About
The occupational health partner for employers who can't afford to get compliance wrong.
Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Foster Special Instruments equips and supports occupational health programs across hearing, spirometry, breath alcohol, vision, respirator fit testing, and EKG — with equipment and supplies shipped nationwide, certified techs on-site for hearing, spirometry, vision, and fit testing across the Ohio Valley (OH, KY, Southern IN & Western WV) plus nationwide on-site testing, and breath alcohol tester calibration and BAT technician training.
What we do
Foster is an authorized distributor and service provider for the instruments occupational health programs rely on — Benson audiometers, NDD and Benson spirometers, CMI Intoxilyzer breath alcohol testers, Titmus vision testers, OHD respirator fit testing, Eckel booths, and Schiller ECG. We sell the equipment, stock the consumables, calibrate and repair the hardware, run hearing, spirometry, vision, and fit testing on-site, and train your team to run breath alcohol testing themselves. One relationship for the entire program.
Our mission
Help employers protect their people and pass every audit, with accurate instruments, clean records, and a team that picks up the phone.
Integrity in every transaction
Straight answers, honest pricing, and the recommendation that is right for your program, even when it is not the biggest sale.
The customer decides what good looks like
Every quote, calibration, and service call is judged by one question: is this the best outcome for the customer.
AI-forward by design
We run the business on modern AI tools so orders, records, and follow-through move faster and cleaner, with a person who knows your equipment on the other end of every call.
One partner, whole program
Equipment, consumables, calibration, on-site testing, and training — from a single team that knows how they fit together.
Compliance first
OSHA, DOT, and ANSI standards are the baseline. Records are clean, traceable, and ready to hand over.
Responsive service
25 years of managed on-site hearing conservation authority across the Ohio Valley. When you call, a person who knows your equipment answers.
Leadership
Meet Jeff Schroeder
Foster Special Instruments has served occupational health programs since the 1940s, when Stan Foster opened Foster Hearing Centers. Today Jeff Schroeder, Owner and President, leads the company.
Jeff came to Foster after 17 years in healthcare, including medical device sales and leadership roles at Zimmer Biomet, Baxter International, and MiMedx. He ran multi-state territories, built and led field teams, trained sales agents, and earned Baxter's President's Club in 2019. Occupational health testing is a different corner of healthcare, but the same rule applies: take care of the customer first, and the rest follows.
A Cincinnati native from the city's western suburbs, Jeff graduated from Oak Hills High School and earned a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Miami University's Farmer School of Business, where he also completed the entrepreneurship program and studied abroad at Miami's Dolibois European Center in Luxembourg. He walked-on to the Miami football team, played four seasons, and earned a full scholarship along the way.
Today he lives in Columbia Tusculum with his family. Off the clock you'll find him cooking, exploring the city, and being a dad.
Let's build your program
Equipment, supplies, calibration, testing, training — start anywhere.