Workshop Instructor Bios
Deanna Meinke, Ph.D.
Co-Director,
Dangerous Decibels Professor,
University of Northern Colorado,
Audiologist
Deanna Meinke has focused her career on the prevention of noise-induced hearing loss as a clinician, educator, researcher and public health advocate. She received her clinical audiology training at Northern Illinois University and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado.
Currently, she is a Professor of Audiology at the University of Northern Colorado and Co-Director of the Dangerous Decibels Program. She has served as past president of the National Hearing Conservation Association, past-president of the Colorado Academy of Audiology and past-chair of the NIOSH/NHCA/CAOHC “Safe-in-Sound Expert Committee”. Her research interests are focused upon the early detection and prevention of noise-induced hearing loss; including firearm impulse noise, educational gaming for hearing health promotion, hearing protector performance, wireless audiometric technology applications and noise exposure risks for adults and children.
Her passion for hearing loss prevention targeting children and adults is highlighted by her collaborations with colleagues in the delivery of Dangerous Decibels® educator training workshops in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Brazil, Singapore and New Zealand.
William Hal Martin, Ph.D.
Co-Director,
Dangerous Decibels Professor,
National University of Singapore,
Singapore
Billy Martin has a wide range of clinical and research interests spanning the fields of physics, hearing, neuroscience and population health. His training in the University of California system included biological science, audiology, speech science, linguistics, electrical engineering, medicine, neuroscience and computational physics. This was followed by a post doctoral fellowship at the Technion-Technical Institute of Israel in auditory neurophysiology.
He is currently professor of Otolaryngology and Public Health at the National University of Singapore where he directs the graduate studies in Audiology and serves as co-director of Dangerous Decibels. He is also a principal audiologist and tinnitus specialist at the National University Hospital. Billy has authored or co-authored has over 800 scientific publications and/or presentations across his fields of interest.
Presently, his research interests include advances in community- based audiology services, effectiveness of hearing loss and tinnitus prevention interventions and application of Science Technology Engineering and Math education gaming to hearing health promotion. In his free time, he is an avid surfer and coaches the NUS water polo teams.
John Brigande, Ph.D.
Associate Professor,
Oregon Health & Science Univ.,
Hearing Science,
Dangerous Decibels Course Instructor,
Singapore
John V. Brigande, Ph.D. is a Professor of Otolaryngology in the Oregon Hearing Research Center at the Oregon Health & Science University. He is jointly appointed to the Cell, Developmental, and Cancer Biology Department and the Divisions of Neuroscience and Developmental and Reproductive Sciences at the Oregon National Primate Research Center.
John and his lab seek to validate gene therapies and drug treatment to rescue hearing in mouse models of deafness as a first step toward safe and effective therapies for use in human patients.
John, his wife, and daughter earned their Dangerous Decibels Educator Training certification in 2008 in a 2-day in-person session, and they present the workshop to high school students every summer
Donald Finan, Ph.D.
Professor,
University of Northern Colorado,
Speech Science,
Dangerous Decibels Jolene Wizard and Course Instructor
Donald Finan is a Professor of Audiology and Speech-Language Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado. He obtained a Ph.D. in speech physiology and developmental neuroscience from Indiana University and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Purdue University.
His research interests include measurement of noise in relation to auditory exposure, normal speech motor control over the lifespan, vocal dosimetry, the use of technology in clinical settings, and developing innovative tools for speech science instruction.
He is the co-developer (with Deanna Meinke) of the innovative course “Musical Acoustics and Health Issues” taught at the University of Northern Colorado, and a co-author of the current Jolene Cookbook. He has helped to update the design of the Jolene mannequins to their current level.
Stephanie Fleckenstein, Au.D.
Clinical Associate Professor,
University of Iowa,
Audiology,
Dangerous Decibels Educator
Stephanie M. Fleckenstein received her B.S. in Speech and Hearing Sciences and M.A. in Audiology from the University of Iowa. She later received her Au.D. from AT Still University. Stephanie is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Iowa, where she has worked since 2003. Stephanie previously worked at an ENT private practice and at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics where she provided audiology services in general diagnostics and hearing aids.
Stephanie’s current responsibilities include clinical instruction of graduate students in the areas of diagnostic audiology, aural (re)habilitation, hearing loss prevention and identification, and business practice. Stephanie has always been interested in hearing loss prevention and became more committed to this area through her involvement in UISAFE (University of Iowa Sound Awareness For Everyone), which is a group of faculty and students whose mission is to promote healthy hearing, and then certification as a Dangerous Decibels educator.
Stephanie promotes healthy hearing in her clinical work as well as outreach events in the community. She has presented on hearing loss prevention at the American Speech and Hearing Association, National Hearing Conservation Association, and Iowa Speech and Hearing Association conventions. Stephanie is a member of these professional organizations as well as American Academy of Audiology.
Stephanie enjoys practicing and teaching yoga, biking, hiking, paddle boarding, and attending live music events (where she wears her hearing protection, of course).
Susan Griest, MPH
Public Health Research Consultant,
Program Evaluation,
Dangerous Decibels Course Instructor
Susan Griest is a public health researcher and educator in the field of hearing and tinnitus for the past 38 years at the OHSU Oregon Hearing and Research Center (OHRC) and the VA Medical Center, National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research (NCRAR). Her background is in epidemiology and community health education. Her skills include design methodology, questionnaire development, management of large, complex databases and evaluation, implementation of randomized, controlled trials, epidemiological studies, statistical methodology and analysis.
Areas of research include incidence and prevalence of hearing loss and tinnitus, risk factors associated with the onset of hearing loss and tinnitus, development and evaluation of treatment effectiveness for tinnitus and educational programs for hearing loss prevention in children, adults and veterans. Susan has been part of the Dangerous Decibels program since 1998.
Danielle Kelsay, M.A.
Clinical Associate Professor,
University of Iowa,
Audiology,
Dangerous Decibels Educator
Danielle Kelsay received her B.S. in Biology and her M.A. in Audiology from The University of Iowa. Currently, Danielle is the Director of Clinical Programs in Audiology and a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Iowa, where she has worked for the past 18 years. Danielle’s previous position as an Audiologist in the Department of Otolaryngology at The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics provided her with 15 years of clinical and research experience working in general diagnostics, hearing aids and cochlear implants. Danielle’s current responsibilities include clinical instruction of graduate students in Audiology related to hearing loss prevention, diagnostics, and aural rehabilitation. Danielle first became interested in hearing loss prevention while working on a capstone project with an Au.D. student in 2008 addressing hearing conservation for musicians. She established and led UISAFE (University of Iowa Sound Awareness for Everyone), a group of faculty and students whose mission is to promote healthy hearing, for 10 years. Danielle is a certified Dangerous Decibels educator. She presented on hearing loss prevention at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the National Hearing Conservation Association, and the Iowa Speech-Language-Hearing Association conventions.
Danielle enjoys playing piano and clarinet, and being outdoors gardening, hiking, kayaking or biking.
Nashrah Maamor, Ph.D.
Head of Audiology,
Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia,
Audiology,
Dangerous Decibels Course Instructor
Nashrah Maamor first received her training in Audiology at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) where she now lectures. She gained her postgraduate degrees from University of Manchester and The University of Western Australia doing research in the area of auditory neurophysiology and central auditory processing. She took interest in noise-induced hearing loss prevention in 2013 during a 3-month research fellowship at the National Centre for Rehabilitative Auditory Research (NCRAR) in Portland Oregon.
In 2015, she became part of the Dangerous Decibels faculty members, actively contributing to organizing and conducting educator training and related research. Other than Malaysia, she was also the instructor for programs conducted in Brunei, Singapore and Australia. In 2020, she was invited to be part of the World Health Organization (WHO) Make Listening Safe initiative in Geneva, Switzerland and later invited to lead a subgroup in the initiative. She is also part of the technical working group in industrial hearing conservation, under the Malaysian National Society of Audiologists (MANSA).
Ted Madison, M.A.
Audiology,
Dangerous Decibels Course Instructor
Ted Madison is an audiologist in Saint Paul, Minnesota, specializing in hearing loss prevention. He retired from the 3M Company 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 NHCA, a recipient of the 2002 NHCA Outstanding Lecture Award and the 2008 Michael Beall Threadgill Award for outstanding leadership and service to NHCA.
Ted is a member of the review panel for the Safe-In-Sound Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Award and a Dangerous Decibels® educator, teaching young people about the joys of hearing and encouraging them to make healthy hearing choices.
Ravi Reddy, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer Occupational Health and Safety,
Massey University, New Zealand,
Occupational Health and Safety,
Dangerous Decibels Course Instructor
Ravi Reddy is a Senior Lecturer-Occupational Health & Safety at Massey University (NZ). His research interests include hearing-health promotion, worker wellbeing and community health.
Ravi has been involved with the Dangerous Decibels programme in New Zealand since 2012. His doctoral research involved the adaptation of the school-based DD programme to an industry version for workplaces.
Judith L. Sobel, Ph.D., MPH
Associate Professor Emeritus,
Oregon Health & Science University /Portland State University,
Public Health and Health Communication,
Dangerous Decibels Course Instructor
Judith Sobel received her PhD at the University of Minnesota in the field of Mass Communication Theory and Methodology, and her MPH at the University of California at Los Angeles. Her research examines the effectiveness of messages aimed at communicating health behavior change to adolescents and adults.
Early in her career she worked on a variety of behavior change messages and strategies aimed at heart disease risk reduction, promoting the use of mammograms, and preventing cigarette smoking and drug abuse in adolescents.
In the 1990’s as an associate professor at Portland State University she began several decades of compelling research with the Dangerous Decibels team, examining successful strategies for preventing noise induced hearing loss and tinnitus.
Currently, she is a Professor Emeritus with the School of Public Health at the Oregon Health & Science University/ Portland State University.
David Welch, Ph.D.
Head of Audiology,
University of Auckland
New Zealand,
Psychology and Physiology,
Dangerous Decibels Course Instructor
David Welch is an academic, and his current research interests are broadly to do with hearing, falling mostly in three areas: the influences of hearing and hearing loss on people, the impact of noise on people, and community hearing-health services.
He has been active in the Dangerous Decibels programme for improving hearing health in noise, is involved with research and service provision in adults with cochlear implants, has interests in newborn hearing screening, and is involved in research about environmental noise and the soundscape.
He originally studied psychology and physiology, and has since become interested in epidemiology, health promotion, and population health. He is currently Head of Audiology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.