e3 MSR West was founded in 1988 by four industry veterans, Rod Warembourg, Roger Ott, Don Atchison, and Brian Hillabush, who pooled their money together to buy the audiometric equipment distributor they worked for. After over a decade since opening, the owner at the time didn’t believe audiometric instruments was a lucrative industry, so he offered the business up to the foursome. They met at a local burger restaurant, threw their money into a hat, and agreed to buy it together.

At the time of the purchase, the company was split into two separate entities: MSR West and MSR Northwest. Roger Ott and Brian Hillabush managed MSR Northwest and were responsible for supporting customers in Washington state, Oregon, and Idaho. On the other hand, Rod Warembourg and Don Atchison oversaw MSR West, covering the states of Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona.

After a few years, they sold enough equipment and service to fully pay off the previous owner and expand into Wyoming and Montana.

From the beginning, we put a strong emphasis treating customers like friends. Everyone involved shared this goal and vision, helping the businesses grow a strong reputation of responsive service, unmatched expertise, and willingness to go above and beyond to aid clients. To do right by the customers, some employees would even sleep in their cars overnight when traveling to an office to ensure they could attend an appointment on time the next day.

Setting this high bar of customer service was easy for us because our founders created an environment where employees wanted to either be in the office or on the road helping customers. With their strong tech backgrounds, Rod, Roger, Brian, and Don were able to fully digitize the entire administrative processes before the days of software companies making it easy, allowing us to go fully paperless and create a smooth, efficient, and frictionless experience for our customers.

Over the past several decades, our team was present for or involved with major events that shaped the course of the field of audiology. We were highly involved in the research and development of a tympanometer that could accurately analyze the middle ear at high altitudes. This was particularly important for us because many of our customers work in offices in cities with altitudes greater than 5,000 ft above sea level.

Additionally, we made our own light bar for VNG testing that provided a visual stimulus for the patient to follow with their eyes as the practitioner examines eye movements for vestibular dysfunction. We also built a VRA system that ran on a Raspberry Pi computer, albeit we never went to market with it. Our team was also present when OAE testing equipment was first revealed to the audiometric community, forever changing the course of hearing screening and diagnostics for the better.

Often, manufacturers of the products we distributed would reach out to us to help improve current products or sort out any bugs. A shining example of this dates to when Bio-logic first released its Navigator Pro auditory evoked potential system. Our team quickly found a bug in the system and immediately reached out to Bio-logic. We worked closely with Bio-logic and quickly implemented a solution. The Navigator Pro went on to be one of the highest-selling AEP systems in the history of audiometric equipment.

After over 20 years of innovation, success, and impeccable customer service, MSR West and MSR Northwest, and a competitor named Acoustical Calibration, were purchased by William Demant Holdings (WDH) to become part of e3 Diagnostics. All three businesses were merged and rebranded as e3 MSR West. Today our presence spans across the entire Western United States and we’re still renowned for the exemplary customer service philosophy our business was founded on.

Joining e3 meant that we would not just have the power of a nationwide network of special instrument distributors behind us, but also a stronger relationship with the manufacturers of the equipment we distribute. Because many of the brands we sell are also owned by WDH, we are able to easily reach their service and support personnel so we can get your problems solved quickly. In addition to responsive service, we have a stronger product knowledge because we get to see and test out products before they go to market, as well as attend private training sessions led by product specialists.

It’s been a long, strange trip since our humble beginnings. Much has changed, but at the end of the day, we’re just as pro-customer as we were when we were sleeping in our cars to make appointments on time. We put your needs first. That’s what we did when we opened in 1988, that’s what we do now, and it’s what we will continue to do in the future.

If you’re in need of new hearing and balance equipment or service on your current instruments. Get in touch with us today!

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