Committee Member Bios
Abram Bailey, Au.D.
Dr. Abram Bailley is an audiologist and a leading expert on consumer technology in the hearing care industry and a staunch advocate for person-centered hearing care and audiological best practices. Bailey did his undergraduate work at the University of Texas in Austin, and holds a doctoral degree in audiology from Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Bailey is the founder and chief executive officer of Hearing Tracker, Inc., an independent shopping resource that helps consumers find better hearing aids and better hearing professionals. He is also the co-founder of HearAdvisor, a testing and results reporting lab for hearing aids.
Dr. Bailey has led or participated in a number of surveys involving a variety of aspects of hearing aids and hearing loss since founding Hearing Tracker. Prior to the advent a of over-the-counter hearing aids, a survey he conducted along with hard of hearing author Kathryn Bouton and the Hearing Loss Association of America created considerable interest both among hearing care professionals and also the clients who received that care. In regard to client or patient care, Bailey says that, "While hearing aids are a core treatment for hearing loss, I believe in holistically treating the hearing health needs of my patients, including identifying and addressing barriers to care and inclusion."
Blake Cadwell
Blake Cadwell is hard of hearing and the founder and CEO of SOUNDLY.com, an online marketplace that streamlines the process of searching for and comparing hearing products by offering “clear and simple pricing and access to the most robust, consumer-friendly network of licensed audiologists.” As a teen, Blake began to experience hearing loss, a hereditary trait that he’d already witnessed in his mother and brother. In his twenties, while living in New York and working for a creative agency, Blake carried on without the assistance of hearing aids, relying on reading lips and context to understand conversation. When the pandemic began, and with it the use of masks and Zoom, Blake was unable to rely on reading lips alone to communicate. Prompted to search for hearing aids, Blake quickly realized, like most aspects of US healthcare, even finding reliable, easy-to-understand information was a hurdle.
This led to him starting a blog, Soundly, to both review the products he was finding and destigmatize the experience of hearing loss through writing. Then, using his prior agency and PR background, Blake created the Soundly marketplace and brand in an effort to make buying hearing products more accessible. It shifts our cultural perspective around hearing impairment and products — a type of assisted technology that Blake says should be compared to eyeglasses, smartwatches, Siri and other devices that we live with day to day.
Carol Clifford, Au.D.
Dr. Carol Clifford, founder of Albuquerque Hearing & Balance, is dedicated to excellence in patient care. A nationally renowned speaker in the Hearing Industries, she chose to return to the rewarding practice of clinical audiology, understanding that she can provide profound changes to patients with hearing loss. Carol received her Bachelor’s degree in Communicative Disorders from Colorado State University in 1983, her Master’s Degree in Audiology & Hearing Impairment in 1984 from Northwestern University, and her Doctorate in 2006 from A.T. Stills University. She completed her Clinical Fellowship Year at Glen Ellyn Clinic in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where she specialized in the evaluation and treatment of children with hearing disorders. As part of a medical team at Rush-Presbyterian Medical Center and Rush University, Carol obtained valuable knowledge that she has utilized in her hearing care endeavors.
In 1987, Carol purchased her first audiology practice in Chicago, Illinois, specializing in medical diagnosis and non-surgical treatment of hearing loss and balance disorders for both children and adults. For 8 years there, she directed a group of audiologists and served more than 100 physicians in the Chicago suburban area. In 1993, Carol returned to Albuquerque where she served as Director of the Audiology Clinic at University Hospital at the University of New Mexico. At the same time, she established the nation’s largest audiology network for managed care groups. Always interested in the research and development of new products to aid persons with hearing impairment, Carol served as Director of Professional Education and Training for ReSound Corporation from 1996 to 1998. Carol opened Albuquerque Hearing & Balance in 1998 with the ambition of providing the highest quality service to the New Mexico community.
Stephen O. Frazier
Stephen Frazier is a freelance writer with a focus on hearing loss issues. His work has appeared in most of the major print and online hearing loss and hearing care related journals. He is the former head of the publicity department at Columbia Artists Management in New York City where he and his staff of a dozen produced and distributed all of the press kits and other material for the country’s largest list of classical music artists and attractions such as Van Cliburn, Jose Carreras, Leontyne Price and others. He has devoted his retirement to advocating for people like him - with hearing loss.
Steve served for 10 years as the New Mexico Chapter Coordinator for the Hearing Loss Association of America and was a founding member of the HLAA Get in the Hearing Loop task force. He has presented workshops on hearing loop technology, living with hearing loss, smartphone apps for the hard of hearing, and other topics to groups either in person or via Zoom throughout the country including at the national conventions of HLAA, ALDA and TDI.
Steve served for 20 years in various capacities in the local HLAA chapter and was on the NM licensing board for hearing care providers for seven years. Over the years, has organized and headed committees that wrote, and enacted, numerous regulations applicable to the needs of New Mexicans with hearing loss. Among them was rewriting of the Albuquerque noise code, “captions always on” ordinances in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, a mandatory 45-day hearing aid trial period, a mandatory 30-day refund for returned hearing aids, and others. He organized several all-day workshops in Albuquerque for various groups and agencies that provide services to the hard of hearing and has led the efforts of the Loop New Mexico initiative since its founder stepped down over a decade ago.
Dr. Kevin Liebe
Dr. Kevin Liebe – In addition to being a practicing audiologist, Dr. Liebe is the President and CEO of Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM), a popular online publication for hearing professionals and consumers.
As an audiologist, he has practiced in a wide range of settings, including private clinics, hospital and ENT settings, as well as providing clinical education and training for a major hearing aid manufacturer. He is a past president and board member of the Washington State Academy of Audiology and has served as an expert audiology consultant and advisor to hearing technology startups and investors.
Dr. Liebe is an advisor to Neosensory, a neuroscience-based company that empowers people with new senses. His appointment bolsters Neosensory’s focus on the continued development of proprietary, industry-defining devices to address hearing and sensory expansion.
David Myers, Ph.D.
Dr. Myers is a professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland, MI. He is the author of 17 books that includes the popular textbooks entitled Psychology, Exploring Psychology, Social Psychology and general- audience books dealing with issues related to Christian faith as well as scientific psychology. In addition, he has published chapters in over 60 books and numerous research articles in professional journals. Dr. Myers is widely recognized for his research on happiness and is a supporter of the positive psychological movement.
Dr. Myers, a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology, received his B.A. in chemistry at Whitworth College, his M.A. in social psychology from the University of Iowa, and his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Iowa. In addition to his long tenure at Hope College, Dr. Myers served as a visiting scholar at the University of Mannheim in Germany in 1974, and at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 1985. He has received fellowships and grants from the U.S, Public Health Service and the National Science Foundation. He is considered one of the most important authors of psychology textbooks and, according to the Open Syllabus Project, is the most frequently cited author on college syllabi for psychology courses.
From 2013 to 2017 he represented Americans with hearing loss on the Advisory Council of NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders. He and his wife, Carol, manage a family foundation which receives all David’s royalties from his introductory psychology textbooks and his general audience trade books. Income from that fund has, among other things, helped fund various hearing loop initiatives.
Juliëtte Sterkens, Au.D.
Dr. Juliëtte Sterkens retired from her private audiology practice in Oshkosh, WI to volunteer as the National Hearing Loop Advocate for the Hearing Loss Association of America. In this capacity she has lectured extensively around the country and abroad to consumers, audiologists, hearing care dispensers and audiology students on the benefits and the use of hearing aids and hearing loops. She has presented workshops to audiologists on the fine points of adjusting hearing aids for optimum performance in a hearing loop environment. Since her founding of Loop Wisconsin, an informational website for consumers, AV specialists and hearing care professionals over a dozen years ago, her efforts have leveraged nearly 900 induction hearing loops in Wisconsin and an untold number in nearly every state in the union.
Juliëtte holds a degree in speech, language pathology and audiometry from the Hogeschool in Hoensbroeck, the Netherlands, a Master's Degree in Audiology from University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and a Doctor of Audiology degree from Arizona School of Health Sciences. For her advocacy efforts she has received several awards including the Wisconsin Audiologist of the Year, the American Academy of Audiology Presidential Award, the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Arizona School of Health Sciences, and the Larry Mauldin Award from Beltone/GN ReSound group. She is a member of HLAA’s Get in the Hearing Loop (GITHL) National Taskforce and the Wisconsin State HLAA Board. She serves on the board of the HEAR in the Fox Cities; a non-profit that helps pay for hearing aids for children and teens in North-East Wisconsin.
About the Committee
The Committee for Communication Access in America is an ad hoc committee created to address the matter of consumer attitudes toward and use of Assistive Communication Technology in public places of assembly. It is comprised of eight members who have all earned a degree of national prominence in the nation's hard of hearing community. With varied backgrounds and experience in hearing loss and hearing care related matters, they each bring their own unique perspective to the project. They have collaborated in this survey to create a complete and detailed picture of the use of assistive communication technology by people with hearing loss.
