Dr. Hosford-Dunn began blogging in her audiology private practice in Tucson, AZ. Back in 2009, blogging was a new and interesting way to quickly share and improve information with colleagues, consumers, and patients. As blogging gained attention, she had the opportunity to serve as chief editor of a multi-author blog for an hearing industry publication. The format was fun and successful. It rapidly evolved into Hearing Health & Technology Matters! (HHTM), an independent blogsite that she founded in partnership with other colleagues in 2011. Since its inception, Dr. Hosford-Dunn has served as HHTM’s first Editor-in-Chief, then Managing Editor, and now is CFO of the organization. After graduating with a BA and MA in Communication Disorders from New Mexico State, she completed a PhD in Hearing Sciences at Stanford and did post-docs at Max Planck Institute (Germany) and Eaton-Peabody Auditory Physiology Lab (Boston). Post-education, she directed the Stanford University Audiology Clinic; developed multi-office private practices in Arizona; authored/edited numerous text books, chapters, journals, and articles; and taught Marketing, Practice Management, Hearing Science, Auditory Electrophysiology, and Amplification in a variety of academic settings. Dr. Hosford-Dunn participates in life long learning by writing weekly posts and by embracing sequential learning endeavors. She spent a year training with the Gemological Institute of America, gaining certification as a Graduate Gemologist (GIA). She graduated with a B.A. in Economics and Psychology from the University of Arizona in 2013. Currently — and probably forever — she studies the Spanish language.
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Nov. 01, 2016

A Bayesian Approach to Cost Effective Hearing Care: What Audiologists Could Learn from Election Gurus

Holly Hosford-Dunn
“Signal & Noise” is a bimonthly column by Brian Taylor, AuD.   During the 2008 election, data guru Nate Silver and his website FiveThirtyEight accurately predicted the winner of the presidential election in 49 of 50 states. After tweaking his data analysis methods he did even better in the 2012 presidential race by accurately predicting the winner of all 50
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Oct. 25, 2016

“Board Certified in Audiology”: A Rose by any other Name Would Smell a Whole Lot Better

Holly Hosford-Dunn
by Harvey Abrams, PhD.   “Peeling the Onion” is a monthly column by Harvey Abrams, PhD. In last month’s post, I described (and celebrated) the efforts of the American Board of Audiology (ABA) to create a certificate program for audiology preceptors designed to address an important need in our profession – high quality clinical supervision of Au.D. students. The provision
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Oct. 18, 2016

September 2016 Patents

Holly Hosford-Dunn
Proliferating patents prompt a switch to monthly lists, commencing today with a list of patents awarded in September by the US Patent office.  The lengthening list is once again due to entry of new players and consumer electronics giants, complementing and competing with our own Big 6.   Samsung’s Hearable Vision   Top of this month’s list is Samsung’s patent
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Oct. 10, 2016

Hearable Hotties on Parade

Holly Hosford-Dunn
Prior posts featured a 2016 taxonomy of Hearables that are no longer with us, in stealth, not entirely wireless, binaural, Smart, or still waiting in the wings.  What’s left?  At present, not as much as one might hope, at least if one is an audiologist.   The winner’s circle is small and, as the Table below attests, doesn’t cater to
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Oct. 05, 2016

Hot Potato Hearables Comin’ Out of the Oven

Holly Hosford-Dunn
Last post reviewed and started categorizing Hearables of yesteryear and now, parsing out ear level devices no longer on the table and others that aren’t wireless, Smart, or binaural.  Survivors that remain in the development stage are the next level of this Hearables taxonomy.   They comprise today’s post, with the repeated caveat that the list is representative, not comprehensive.
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Sep. 27, 2016

Hearables, Hot Potatoes of the Ear

Holly Hosford-Dunn
In 2014, Hearing Economics started a conversation about Hearables that rambled on for 14-post series. It left off December 2015 with a survey of the Hearables that had come on the market (few and only monaural at that point) and exciting ones on the drawing board scheduled for 2016 delivery.  A lot has happened since then, most of it covered in HHTM’s
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Sep. 20, 2016

Buying the Stairway…to Hearing

Holly Hosford-Dunn
By Amyn Amlani and Holly Hosford-Dunn There’s a lady who’s sure All that glitters is gold And she’s buying a stairway to…[hearing]. We’re recalling the lyrics to Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, as an inspiration for our series of posts on pricing.  In Part 3 of our series of blogs on pricing that commenced in June, we analyzed retail and
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Sep. 13, 2016

Ensuring a Quality AuD Externship Experience: A Step in the Right Direction

Holly Hosford-Dunn
by Harvey Abrams, PhD.   “Peeling the Onion” is a monthly column by Harvey Abrams, PhD. I was very excited to learn about the American Board of Audiology’s (ABA) Certificate Program for the CH-AP™  Certificate Holder-Audiology Preceptor (CH-AP™) described in excellent detail by Bob Traynor in his last HHTM post.  Among its other stated goals, the ABA developed this program
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Sep. 06, 2016

Patents Jul/Aug 2016: Game of Patent Thrones

Holly Hosford-Dunn
Patents, a fantastical realm of imagination, are a wonderful place to explore and gain understanding of new concepts. What better place to stumble on new definitions than in newly-issued patents from  companies in the brain realm?  What better place to implement new concepts than the ear? (editor’s note:  This post was updated 9/11/2016 to correct a series of impaired USPTO
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Aug. 31, 2016

Consumers, Consumers…Where art thou?

Holly Hosford-Dunn
As part of our series on the influence of price on the hearing aid market, this week’s blog takes a closer look at the connection between price and adoption rates. Estimates of hearing aid adoption rates were first quantified back in the early 1970s, and are reported periodically as percentages. In 2014, Staab1 provided readers with an overview of differences