As Head and Chair of the Department of Voice, Speech and Hearing Disorders, he is a recognized expert on care of the professional voice. Dr. Hess is active in the regional, national and international field of voice diagnostics and treatment, including his speciality of phonosurgery. The special environment in Hamburg enables the performance of the highest level of patient care in a center of excellence, including laryngeal microsurgery with cutting-edge, minimally invasive techniques. A major feature of the Hamburg clinic is voice surgery in an office-based setting, i.e., so-called indirect surgery without general anesthesia. For diagnostics and treatment of 'professional voice disorders', Dr. Hess brings a multidisciplinary approach to such patients as public speakers, singers and actors. The voice team in Hamburg includes the active involvement of logopedists, pedagogues for classical singers, pedagogues for contemporary commercial music with a principal focus on musical theater, acting voice therapists, singing voice therapists, psychologists, engineers, and healthcare professionals as required by the individual patient's needs. With his dedicated team he has helped many international top-level singers, actors, public speakers and other performing artists. Dr. Hess also serves as a consultant phoniatrician to several hospitals and is working in liaison with noted medical and clinical specialists throughout the Hamburg metropolitan area.
He received his basic medical education at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, where he also completed the US medical board examination (ECFMG). He continued his training with a residency and fellowship in otorhinolaryngology, neurotology, voice and speech disorders at the Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf. In Berlin he completed his second specialization - phoniatrics and pediatric audiology - at the University Hospital Benjamin Franklin. In recognition of contributions to the field of voice science, the German Research Council (DFG) granted him the distinguished Heisenberg award, giving him three years of research at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Hess served as affiliated Research Scientist to the Voice and Speech Laboratory at Massachussetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston. He has remained affiliated as Research Associate and Visiting Lecturer with the Health Science and Technology Program of Harvard and M.I.T. In 1998 he assumed his current position as Head and Chair of the Department of Voice, Speech and Hearing Disorders of the University Medical Center (UKE) in Hamburg, Germany. Dr. Hess is recipient of the prestigious German 'Hufeland-Award'.
His research focuses on assessment of laryngeal biomechanics, improvement of objective voice diagnostics and implementation of newest phonosurgical techniques. As a specialist in laryngology, Dr. Hess holds a patent in LED illumination stroboscopy. He has designed and developed phonosurgical instruments with a major medical instrument company. He pioneered techniques to improve visualization of vocal fold vibration, facilitate office-based laryngeal morphometry, and establish objective voice assessment tools and intraoperative measurement of visco-elastic properties of the vocal folds.
Dr. Hess has published more than one hundred articles and given over 400 presentations in international and national symposia. His expertise has achieved worldwide recognition, reflected in numerous invitations as lecturer or moderator at national and international symposia, seminars, conferences, and professional congresses. He serves as member of numerous societies, including the International Association of Phonosurgeons, The Voice Foundation, and the European Laryngological Society. As Secretary General of the Pan European Voice Conference, he is committed to enhancing awareness and recognition of voice-related issues in Europe. Dr. Hess is proud to be a founding member of the ,German Society of Phonosurgery'. He contributes to the voice field as a member of editorial boards, medical journals and national and international committees.
Mailto Dr. Hess
