Jack Katz died on July 11, 2025, at age 91.
Born on March 25, 1934, in Bronx, New York, he was the son of immigrants from Russia (now Ukraine). His family moved to Brooklyn in 1939. He attended PS 92, Erasmus Hall High School and then Brooklyn College, where he majored in speech and hearing. In order to major in speech and hearing, he had to take three remedial courses to improve his own speech.
In 1955, he met Irma H. Laufer at summer camp where they were counselors. They got married one year later after they both graduated from college. Jack was admitted to the graduate program at Syracuse University “on condition” because he did not have good grades in college. After the first summer session, he was admitted to full graduate status and received his M.S. degree in 1957.
While waiting to be drafted into the Army, he took a job as a speech and hearing therapist at three central schools in little towns in Cayuga County, New York. He tried out a technique he called Phonemic Synthesis to evaluate and then apply it therapeutically to help those with speech and reading problems (now called Auditory Processing Disorder – APD). When he was finally drafted, his three principals interceded because he could not be replaced, and he was deferred.
Jack went on to get his Ph.D. at the University at Pittsburgh in 1961. During that program, he switched his major from primarily speech to primarily audiology. His dissertation under the direction of Dr. Aubrey Epstein was a very early indication that conductive hearing loss can affect higher levels of the auditory system. His dissertation article was so remarkable that another audiologist wrote that those results must have been rigged. It has been verified and expanded on many times over the years.
During his summer vacation, he took a job in audiology and learned that in Germany researchers were studying brain disorders using auditory tests. Despite very limited knowledge or information, Jack hit on an idea while feeding their baby son at midnight. He called it the Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW) test. The SSW test remains the most widely used diagnostic test for APD. It has been reproduced in many languages and dialects around the world.
His first position was as an assistant professor at Northern Illinois University, where he began his lifelong research in auditory processing disorders. When he was assigned to teach a course for which he had no knowledge, he resigned and was hired at Tulane Medical School in the Department of Otolaryngology. His teaching was broad, but most of his clinical work and research were directed to studying the brain with hearing tests for patients with a variety of brain lesions as part of an NIH grant. He worked closely with neurologist Dr. Arthur Epstein on that study and on neurophysiology with pharmacology professor Dr. Paul Guth. This latter work focused on auditory deprivation, which followed up on Jack’s dissertation with middle ear issues. While at Tulane, he served as a consultant for NASA and was present for a trial firing of a Saturn rocket to record hearing effects. The rocket’s sound was very powerful (you could feel it) but could not be heard because it was lower in frequency than human hearing.
Three years later, Jack took a position as director of the Hearing and Speech Clinic at Menorah Medical Center in Kansas City. In addition to directing the department, he also developed diagnostic and therapeutic programs for a new area that was called auditory processing disorders. He also kept his hand in teaching at KU Medical Center and at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
At Passover, while on vacation, he was frustrated with the lack of a handbook that would contain the basics of the field of audiology. He began to think of who he would like to ask to write chapters on various topics he could refer to in his practice. Knowing full well that no one would write chapters just for him, he decided to create and edit “The Handbook of Clinical Audiology” (HOCA), which first came out in 1972. He retired as editor when he finished editing the 7th edition in 2015. At that time, HOCA was still the standard graduate textbook in audiology in the US and in many countries around the world.
From 1972 to 1973, Jack and his family moved to Ankara, Turkey, for the academic year. He was a senior Fulbright professor, both teaching and overseeing clinical services. Living and working in Turkey was extremely interesting and educational for the family, and it allowed Jack to help train the first group of Turkish audiologists and speech pathologists. The family got to experience this amazing country with their Turkish and American friends. He taught Ph.D. students at Hacetteppe University and clinicians at a rehabilitation and guidance center. One of the special projects was to translate a test of language ability into Turkish and then to norm it in cities, villages and gecekondu.
The family’s next move was to Buffalo, New York, where Jack was a professor in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences. He served as chair for five years. There he continued his work on APD with the help of many students and began a quarterly publication called “SSW Reports” to teach all the features of his complex test. Thirty-eight years later, in 2016, it morphed into Topics in Central Auditory Processing (TiCAP) with several other editors.
Jack “retired” in 2002 from the University of Buffalo at age 68, and he and Irma moved back to the Kansas City area to be close to their children and grandchildren. He volunteered for one year at KUMC, and when he learned there were no services for the Greater Kansas City area for those with APD, he opened a solo practice specializing in evaluation and therapy for children and adults with this disorder. In 2011, he began an international webgroup for audiologists, speech-language pathologists and other professionals who served those with APD. It is called the International Guild of Auditory Processing Specialists (IGAPS). Its purpose is not only to encourage communications among those who worked with individuals who had APD but to encourage an accepting, supportive group of professionals who welcome diversity of thought but not hostility. Jack trained many students and colleagues and helped hundreds of patients over the 21 years of The Auditory Processing Service, LLC.
Everyone who Jack knew also knew or heard about Irma. Her love and support were a given, and she improved his every endeavor. She hosted students and colleagues for dinners, and she got to know hundreds of them. Whenever Jack could not remember a name — not an unusual occurrence — Irma was at the ready with the name and a variety of details both personal and professional. But Irma was more than the consummate hostess; she was his full partner in the family business of audiology. She was his confidant, editor, indexer for publications and fierce protector. Irma was also “doctor-mom,” as she identified major illnesses before his doctors or he did himself. They were blessed to have two absolutely wonderful children, Mark and Miriam, who were often very willingly conscripted into the family business.
Jack is survived by his beloved family: Irma, his shining star for 69 years of marriage; Mark and his wife, Jill; and Miriam and her husband, Eric. Jack and Irma never gave heed to the notion of “in-law,” so to Jack, all four were simply his children. Jack will also be missed by his grandchildren: Erin and her Tom; Hanna and her Alex; Rachel and her Alex; and Elaina, whom he would only call Lainie. His great-grandchildren, Evie and Theo, will carry forward their memories of him and the songs he sang to them.
Finally, Jack is survived by hundreds of students and colleagues, and most importantly, thousands of patients to whom he dedicated his life’s work.
Instead of flowers, Jack’s family requests family and friends to consider donations in his memory to Operation Breakthrough (operationbreakthrough.org/how-you-can-help/financial-support); Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem (donate.hadassah.org —in the gift designation box, select Hadassah Medical Organization in the dropdown menu); and the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (https://myasthenia.givevirtuous.org/donate/donation-form).
Funeral services were held on July 13 at The Louis Memorial Chapel. Burial followed at Rose Hill Cemetery.
Online condolences for the family may be left at louismemorialchapel.com.