Bill Austin: Founder of Starkey Labs
1967 William Austin starts Professional Hearing Aid Service, an all-make hearing instrument repair service in
St. Louis Park, Minnesota. The company offers fixed repair charges—an industry first.
Comment: It's very important to choose location to start your business!
1971 Austin purchases Starkey Laboratories, a small earmold company, from Harold Starkey. Austin merges Professional and Starkey, retaining the Starkey name.
Comment: Starkey extends its business to earmold!
1973 Starkey releases the CE-1, a custom in-the-ear hearing aid with an industry first 90-day trial period and 1-year "Worry Free" warranty. Starkey releases variations of the first CE in the following years. Soon after, Starkey becomes the world's leading manufacturer of custom hearing instruments.
1975 With custom hearing aid production growing so dramatically, Starkey outgrows its original facility and purchases a new building in nearby Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
1976 Starkey opens its first subsidiary in Manchester, England. Over the next five years, Starkey opens facilities in Toronto, Canada; Glencoe, Minnesota; Hamburg, Germany and Paris, France.
1977 Austin feels that the hearing aid industry could benefit from an image-enhancing, professional auditory educational package for consumers. In response, he creates the CARE program, a comprehensive series of booklets and videos that promotes the benefits of improved hearing.
1978 The Starkey Fund is developed as a battery recycling program. Dispensers would send used batteries to Starkey for credit donated for helping needy people receive hearing assistance. The program evolves into the Starkey Hearing Foundation, a tax-exempt charitable organization.
1979 Austin decides outstanding patient service necessitates state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment. This philosophy leads to the development of the CHAT hearing aid tester, the Tinnitus Research Audiometer and the Digital Drain Meter.
Comment: Starkey extends its business again to test equipment!
1982 Starkey releases the CE-5 series, the industry's first canal hearing aids.
1983 President Ronald Reagan gets fitted with Starkey INTRA hearing aids. The President's fitting encourages a wider acceptance of hearing aids among the general public, resulting in increased sales throughout the industry.
Comment: Intersting!
1986 Starkey releases the CE-7 series and the Earborne Headset, the world's first custom headset. Earborne incorporates a custom molded earpiece and a lightweight microphone.
Comment: Starkey Lab extends its business to headset!
1989 Starkey purchases Omni Hearing Systems and Nu-Ear Electronics
Comment: Starkey lab purchase again!
1993 The Tympanette is introduced, as Starkey designs a new instrument to fit entirely in the ear canal, providing enhanced cosmetic and acoustic benefits. Today, the Tympanette is the industry's smallest and most popular completely-in-the-canal instrument.
1995 Starkey headquarters receives ISO 9001 certification, meeting the most comprehensive quality standards for manufacturing, operations and documentation. To ensure compliance, the British Standards Institute annually audits Starkey's quality system. Starkey Germany, Canada, UK, France and Italy have also received ISO certification.
1996 Starkey releases Sequel Custom Programmable instruments. Building upon the success of the Sequel Series, Sequel Programmables greatly reduce distortion and offer advanced compression technology. The new Professional Fitting System is also released to allow for quick, accurate and easy instrument programming.
Comment: Now Programmable heairng aid era!
1999 Starkey enters the digital age with the release of the Cetera and Aries digital hearing systems. Both instruments take a research-based approach to amplification.
Comment: Now Digital Hearing Aid Era!
2001 Starkey introduces the Genesis digital product family. Genesis quickly becomes the industry's most comprehensive product line with Axent hearing instruments becoming the benchmark for advanced digital technology.
2002 The Starkey Hearing Alliance network is established. Industry leading hearing professionals team with Starkey to offer a unique blend of technology and patient care. Each affiliated practice shares a commitment to providing the most appropriate hearing solutions while providing "Better Hearing with a Human Touch."
2003 Building on a continued commitment of patient-focused research and development, Starkey releases Genesis 4. Featuring an exclusive sound environment called Precision Audio Imaging, Axent II, Sequel, Endeavour and the newest member of the family, Arista, offer hearing impaired users superior levels of audibility, high fidelity and hearing comfort.
2004 Elton John's appearance and support of the 2004 "So The World May Hear" Awards Gala helps the Starkey Hearing Foundation raise a record $2.7 million during the event. Construction begins on the new William F. Austin Center. On December 13, 2004, the Starkey Hearing Research Center opens.
2006 Starkey redefines the hearing solutions industry by introducing nFusion Technology with the release of its Destiny series hearing aids coupled with Inspire OS fitting software. Destiny is the first hearing aid to utilize both nano and digital technology.
Comment: nFusion technology = destiny series Hearing aid + Inspire OS fitting Software
2007 Starkey launches the Destiny 1600 model including a full line of open fit solutions enabling you to experience the most natural sound quality the industry has to offer.
Comment: first time open fit is introduced in Starkey!
2008 Starkey launches BluWave™ Signal Processing (SP), which is similar to the operating system on a computer. In addition, Starkey launches the industry's most award-winning hearing aid — Zōn — powered by BluWave SP and encompassing the most advanced features available.
Comment: Starkey starts to develop own dsp processor for its digital hearing aids!
2009 Starkey launches S Series™ with Drive Architecture™, the revolutionary new line of hearing aids using multi-core, open architecture technology. S Series builds on already best-in-class features with a new feedback eliminator, noise system and telephone solution in addition to the T², which lets patients use their touch-tone phone as a remote control.
Comment: Ezairo5900 and more and more new features!
2010 Starkey launches a number of exciting new products and programs: S Series™ iQ, featuring Voice iQ, a new noise management and speech preservation system designed to be so fast and smart it may reduce noise between the syllables of words; OtoLens™, the world’s first invisible-in-the-canal hearing aid; and Starkey Pediatrics, a new program designed specifically for kids using Starkey’s evidence-based design approach and the line authorized to offer Nickelodeon™ characters on earmolds and materials that come with hearing aids.
Comment: Compared to S Series IQ, OtlLens, and Pediatrics program, the most important event of starkey in 2010 is, James Yang, starts to work here!
