Thais Morata Ph.D.
Project Director
Dr. Thais Morata is a Research Audiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the US. Since 2022 she co-manages the NIOSH Hearing Loss Prevention Program. Dr. Morata collaborates with several international occupational health institutes in the area of hearing loss prevention. She is a Founding Associate Editor for the International Journal of Audiology and for Cochrane Work. More recently, she is devoting time to the goals of improving the communication of science to the public through new media and promoting the evaluation of intervention effectiveness and adoption of evidence-based health practices.
Scott P. Schneider, M.S., CIH
Expert Committee Coordinator
Scott Schneider is a Certified Industrial Hygienist. He has worked on occupational safety and health issues in the Labor movement for the past 37 years. He worked for the Carpenters Union, the Workers’ Institute for Safety and Health (WISH), the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) and the Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America (LHSFNA), from which he recently retired. Over his career he has helped develop standards to protect workers from Asbestos and Silica, fought to protect workers from noise exposure and ergonomic injuries as well as in areas such as work zone safety, fall prevention and improving safety climate in construction. He is a Fellow member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and was awarded the William Steiger award by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) for his contributions to the field.
Dennis P. Driscoll, P.E.
Member
Dennis has both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from North Carolina State University. Since 1980, his specialties in acoustics include measurement of equipment noise levels and employee noise exposures, the design of engineering controls, and environmental surveys. From 1980-1988 he managed Amoco and BP Corporation’s hearing conservation program, and has been an acoustical consultant to industry since 1988.
Toward professional certification, he is a registered Professional Engineer and a Board Certified Noise Control Engineer. He is a Past President of the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA), a Fellow Member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), and past Chair of the AIHA Noise Committee. Finally, Dennis is one of the Editors and participating author of The Noise Manual, 5th and 6th Editions, by AIHA.
Lauraine (“Laurie”) Wells, Au.D.
Member
Laurie Wells, Au.D., is a Doctor of Audiology and Senior Regulatory Affairs Specialist for 3M Personal Safety Division, where she works with hearing protection and hearing conservation program regulatory issues globally. Her responsibilities include supporting evidenced-based standards development and providing subject matter expertise related to hearing loss prevention. Before coming to 3M, Dr. Wells worked for a consulting firm, Associates In Acoustics, Inc., where as Manager of Audiology, she provided professional audiology review of hearing loss cases, audiometric database analysis, assessment of hearing protection devices, audits of hearing conservation programs and conducted employee noise exposure assessment, audiometric testing and employee education. The experience of directly interacting with workers at their jobsites as well as consulting with corporate level health and safety professionals has allowed her to integrate real-world issues with policy making in an effort to better shape effective preventive practices. Dr. Wells is the Past-Chair of the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC), representing the American Academy of Audiology and a Past-President of the National Hearing Conservation Association.
Ted Madison
Member
Ted Madison is an audiologist in Saint Paul, Minnesota, specializing in hearing loss prevention. He retired from the 3M Personal Safety Division in 2019 and is currently a CAOHC-certified course director at the Midwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety at the University of Minnesota. He is a Past-President of the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA), recipient of the 2002 NHCA Outstanding Lecture Award and the 2008 Michael Beall Threadgill Award for outstanding leadership and service to NHCA. When time allows, Ted brings his passion for hearing loss prevention into the classroom as a Dangerous Decibels™ educator, teaching young people about the joys of hearing and encouraging them to make healthy hearing choices.
Jérémie Voix, Ph.D.
Member
Professor Jérémie Voix is a physicist by education and acoustician by calling. He has been recognized for his exceptional contributions to ear acoustics, notably in hearing protection, advanced communication, and physiological biosensing through in-ear technologies. Professor Voix is happily involved in several standardization activities on hearing protection as well as in global promotion of auditory health with the World Health Organization (WHO). He is also a board member of the Canadian Acoustical Association, an associate member of the International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research (BRAMS) and a regular member of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT), housed at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University.
Chucri (Chuck) A. Kardous
Member
Chucri (Chuck) A. Kardous (CAPT Ret, USPHS) is an acoustical engineer and consultant specializing in noise research and hearing loss prevention. Chuck retired from NIOSH after 30 years career with the Noise and Bioacoustics Team. Chuck is an author and co-author on over 70 scientific journal articles and reports on impulse noise, noise smartphone applications, noise level at firing ranges, fire-fighters’ noise exposures, and principal authors on 10 NIOSH engineering reports, health hazard evaluations, workplace solutions, and science blogs. Chuck holds a bachelor and master degrees in Electrical Engineering and is a Professional Engineer with the State of Ohio.
Benjamin Roberts
Member
Dr. Benjamin Roberts is a Supervising Health Scientist at Benchmark Risk Group. Dr. Roberts completed a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Science and an MPH in industrial hygiene. He is also a CIH. His research is focused on the statistical analysis of occupational and environmental exposure data with an emphasis on using new technology and rigorous statistical methods to improve decision-making. Dr. Roberts is a member of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and is active in the Big Data and Sensors Technology Content Portfolio Advisory Group (CPAG) and is also the past-chair of the AIHA Noise Committee. He has authored or co-authored 19 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has presented at several conferences on the topics of big data, noise exposure, and statistical modeling.
John R. Franks, Ph.D.
Ad Hoc Member
Dr. John Franks, retired from the Hearing Loss Prevention Section of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and now consulting in all aspects of hearing loss prevention, has been involved in the field of hearing loss prevention and remediation of hearing loss for more than 30 years. He has served on committees of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, the American Society for Testing and Materials, the American National Standards Institute and the National Hearing Conservation Association. He has published or presented more than 70 articles and presentations and has authored two patents. Having first developed materials for companies to audit their programs for effectiveness in preventing occupational hearing loss in the 1970’s, Dr. Franks is particularly interested in seeing companies with excellent programs receive recognition.
Rick Neitzel, Ph.D.
Ad Hoc Member
Rick Neitzel is a Professor and Director of the University of Michigan's Department of Environmental Health Sciences. He directs the UM Global Public Health certificate program and is also Director of the UM Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering and the UM Industrial Hygiene program. He received a PhD in Environmental and Occupational Hygiene from the University of Washington in 2009 and has been a Certified Industrial Hygienist since 2003. He has been conducting research on noise and hearing loss since 1997 and has published nearly 60 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts on this topic. His current research interests include quantitative and subjective exposure assessment in occupational and non-occupational settings and development and evaluation of occupational health interventions and controls.
Deanna K. Meinke, Ph.D.
Ad hoc Member
Dr. Deanna Meinke has focused her career on the prevention of noise induced hearing loss as a clinician, educator, researcher and advocate. She is currently Professor of Audiology and Speech-Language Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado. She obtained her B.S. in Communication Disorders from Colorado State University, an M.A. in Audiology from Northern Illinois University and her Ph.D. in Audiology from the University of Colorado. She has worked as an audiologist in a multi-specialty medical clinic for 18 years and as an occupational audiology consultant for national and world-wide corporations since 1985. She is a former president of the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) and the Colorado Academy of Audiology.
Presently, she chairs the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) “Safe-in-Sound Expert Committee” and Co-Directs the Dangerous Decibels® program. At UNC, her research interests include the recreational firearm sound levels, hearing protector performance, and the use of automated wireless hearing test devices designed for testing hearing outside of a sound-booth (work which is funded by the National Institutes of Health, NIDCD). Her passion for hearing loss prevention targeting children is highlighted by her collaborations with colleagues from the Oregon Health & Science University, the National University of Singapore and the University of Auckland in the delivery of Dangerous Decibels® educator training workshops in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Singapore and New Zealand.
Kristy Casto, Ph.D.
Ad hoc Member
Kristen (Kristy) Casto is the Audiology and Hearing Conservation consultant to the Army Surgeon General and staff officer for the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Health. For more than twenty years she has managed comprehensive programs focused on occupational hearing conservation and hearing readiness at various military installations across the United States. Kristy holds a clinical doctorate in Audiology from Central Michigan University and a Ph.D. in Human Factors Engineering from Virginia Tech. Her clinical and research interests include the communication challenges of the hearing-impaired service member in tactical environments, auditory fitness-for-duty assessment, and aviation communications. Kristy is a former president of the National Hearing Conservation Association, is certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, is a Fellow of the American Academy of Audiology, and is a member of the Military Audiology Association.
Pamela S. Graydon, M.S.
Ad hoc Member
Pam Graydon is an Electronics Engineer who joined the Hearing Loss Prevention Team in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1999. She has been working for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) since 1990. She received a Bachelors of Elected Studies from Thomas More College and her Engineering Degree as well as her M.S. in Science in Technology from Northern Kentucky University. She is a CAOHC certified hearing conservationist. Her research interests include talking with carpenters, farmers, teachers, and students about hearing loss prevention as well as anyone else who will listen.
Stephanie Griffin, Ph.D.
Past Member
Stephanie Griffin is an Associate Professor of Public Health at the School of Health Sciences at Stockton University in New Jersey. Stephanie graduated from the University of Arizona in August 2014 with a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences and a multidisciplinary minor in health economics where she studied the cost-effectiveness of risk management interventions in the U.S. fire service. She earned her Masters of Science in Industrial Hygiene from the University of Washington in 2007 where she studied occupational noise exposure. Dr. Griffin has over seventeen years of environmental health and industrial hygiene experience having served as an Environmental Health Specialist with the U.S. EPA from 1999-2002 and as an Environmental Health Officer with the US Public Health Service, assigned to the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard, from 2002-2011.
Lee Hager
Past Member
Lee brings over 25 years experience to his position as Hearing Conservationist for 3M, including consultation with Fortune 50 companies on hearing conservation program effectiveness. He has served as chair of the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC), past president of the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA), and past chair of the Noise Committee and Fellow of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). In his role with 3M, he provides technical support on hearing protection issues and hearing protector fit testing as well as training in hearing loss prevention. He publishes regularly and presents internationally on noise and hearing issues. Most of all, he cares about your ears.
James E. Lankford, Ph.D.
Past Member
James Lankford is professor emeritus from Northern Illinois University where he taught audiology courses for 31 years. He holds PhD and MS degrees in audiology from the University of Oklahoma and a BS degree in biology from Oklahoma Christian University of Arts and Sciences. During the last 10 years of his tenure at NIU he was dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences. His principle interest in research has been on preventing noise-induced hearing loss and has worked with the farming community for 18 years with this primary focus. He is presently engaged in research investigating impulse noise exposure from recreational firearms.
He is a former president of the National Hearing Conservation Association, a former president of the Illinois Academy of Audiology and has consulted with professional organizations, educational institutions, government as well as business and industry. James and his wife, Vera, are happy to have two children and four grandchildren. And, James likes to turkey hunt and has published a book in 2006 entitled, “TurkeyQuest” which details some of his experiences
Noah Seixas, Ph.D.
Past Member
Noah Seixas is Professor of Exposure Sciences at the University of Washington,
School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Dr. Seixas received an MS in
Industrial Hygiene at Harvard School of Public Health in 1982. After working for
public health agencies in New Jersey for four years, Dr. Seixas returned to school at the University of Michigan, earning a PhD in Industrial Health in 1990. Dr. Seixas’ dissertation addressed obstructive lung disease among coal miners and exploited the large exposure database on coal dust exposures from the Mine Safety and Health Administration compliance activities. As such, Dr. Seixas’ activities were part of the growing recognition of exposure assessment as a crucial component of effective occupational epidemiology. Dr. Seixas was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Washington in 1993 where he developed a teaching and research program on exposure assessment techniques in relation to epidemiologic studies. Dr. Seixas also serves as Director of the Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety, a NIOSH ERC serving the Pacific Northwest region. His research activities have included studies on silica exposure, irritant exposures in aluminum smelting and organic dust exposures. Over the past eight years, Dr. Seixas has focused largely on noise exposure in the construction industry. In addition to ongoing studies in construction, Dr. Seixas has developed an interest in injury prevention and is currently working on risks in ‘precarious employment’ including day laborers.
Amber Powner, Au.D.
Past Publicity Facilitator
Amber Powner, a recent graduate of the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is currently working as a clinical audiologist in Santa Rosa, California. She earned a bachelor’s degree from UNC in Audiology and Speech-Language Sciences in 2010 and finished her doctorate in 2014. Amber is a Colorado native as well as a life-long musician, though the opportunities for outreach are unlimited where she is in California. She became interested in hearing loss prevention after experiencing the loud lifestyle as a front-member in a local band, and always mentions her 'day job' when performing. She has served as Secretary for UNC’s Student Academy of Audiology chapter, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Audiology (AAA), a member of the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA), and participates with the Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA). Amber is also CAOHC certified as an occupational hearing conservationist. Her current goal is to create a program for local musicians seeking information about music induced hearing disorders and safe use of products such as in-ear monitors.