Richard Seewald, PhD

Dr. Richard Seewald has contributed research findings in pediatric amplification for more than 25 years. Dr. Seewald’s paper entitled “Selecting Amplification Characteristics for Young Hearing-Impaired Children” quickly became a classic in pediatric audiology. His critical approach to determine the amplification needs for infants and young children raised the bar in pediatric hearing aid research. Dr. Seewald’s Desired Sensation Level Approach (DSL) hearing aid fitting method is used worldwide to ensure that infants and children receive appropriate amplification for loudness comfort and speech-language development. Dr. Seewald has continued to refine his recommendations and assess their validity to improve the ability of clinicians to provide optimal hearing aid fittings for infants and children. Dr. Seewald is known as an excellent teacher. In addition to his many publications and presentations, Dr. Seewald has mentored 47 master and 2 doctoral students. He has taught students and practicing clinicians that audiology care for infants and young children is a science and an art. Dr. Seewald not only has an excellent understanding of technologic and theoretical issues, but he also is a clinician with the compassion and interpersonal skills to work with children and their families. Dr. Seewald has brought his research finding into the clinic of every pediatric audiologist.