When most people think of hearing tests, they picture a booth, a soundproof room, and a patient wearing headphones while tones beep softly in their ears. But what if none of that were possible? What if you had to perform accurate auditory assessments in a waiting room, a rural village, or during a global health crisis?
That’s precisely the challenge faced by Dr. Chris Niemczak, a researcher at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine and the Space Medicine Innovation Lab. Led by Dr. Chris Niemczak, the team needed a way to conduct high-quality hearing tests in unconventional environments. Fortunately, the WAHTS System was ready for the moment.
Breaking the Booth Barrier
Traditional audiological testing depends on bulky sound booths and outdated audiometers—neither of which are easily portable or usable outside a clinic. But Dartmouth’s research doesn’t wait for perfect conditions. The Geisel team’s work includes Alzheimer’s studies in Montreal, HIV-related cognitive decline in Tanzania, and Long COVID recovery in the U.S.
WAHTS offered something completely new: the ability to perform precise, advanced auditory neuroscience research without the limitations of a booth.
“It gives us the ability to do audiological research without a booth,” said Dr. Niemczak. “That’s the biggest thing.”
A Wearable Booth for Global-Scale Neuroscience
WAHTS isn’t a typical mobile device — it’s a wearable, fully portable booth with an integrated micro audiometer. That distinction matters. The system’s highly attenuating earphones replicate the sound isolation of clinical booths, enabling consistent, reliable data collection even in noisy environments.
Using research protocols, the WAHTS supports a wide range of auditory tasks —ranging from threshold testing to speech-in-noise evaluations—and allows users to create language-independent tests for any population.
“In Tanzania, in primary care clinics, even in conference rooms, we can test auditory function anywhere. That’s never been possible before.”
Accessibility Without Compromise
Another key innovation is that WAHTS doesn’t require an audiologist to operate. With simple training, non-clinicians can administer tests and record valid results. This has significant implications for scalability, especially in global health, field medicine, and underserved populations. “WAHTS enables us to train non-audiologists to conduct reliable tests. That opens so many possibilities in global and underserved contexts.”
From conducting gap detection in Brazil to exploring traumatic brain injury diagnostics in military contexts, the portability and simplicity of WAHTS open new opportunities, without compromising data quality.
Rebuilding Research Around the Tool
Perhaps the most significant point is this: Dr. Niemczak and his team at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine are designing their studies around WAHTS, not the other way around. It’s uncommon for researchers to alter protocols to accommodate a piece of equipment, but WAHTS has earned that distinction.
“We’ve built our studies around WAHTS,” he explained. “It’s rare in research to design protocols around the equipment, but with WAHTS, we do.”
In academic and medical settings that are often slow to change, such a shift speaks volumes.
The Future of Hearing + Cognitive Screening
One of the most exciting developments is WAHTS’s potential as a frontline screening tool in primary care. Because it requires no booth and no wired equipment, it can be deployed anywhere, even in a waiting room. In five minutes or less, a clinician can capture early hearing data that may indicate cognitive decline, auditory dysfunction, or other neurological red flags.
“If you give me five minutes in a waiting room, I’ll give you a hearing test. That’s the future of hearing healthcare.”
Whether advancing Alzheimer’s research in Canada, supporting community health clinics in Tanzania, or shaping the future of military cognitive screening, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine is proving that WAHTS is more than just a product—it’s a platform for transformation.
We’re proud to be part of Dr. Niemczak’s mission—and eager to see what’s ahead.
Interested to see a demo, contact us!
Chris Niemczak, Biomedical Research
Dartmouth Bio | LinkedIn
This article includes content generated using ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2025), reviewed and edited by our team.