David Kirkwood

A longtime observer of the hearing healthcare scene, David Kirkwood was editor-in-chief of The Hearing Journal from 1990 through 2010. Among the honors he received was a 2006 President’s Award from the American Academy of Audiology. Previously, he spent 15 years as editor and publisher of a weekly community newspaper in Scarsdale, NY. Before finding his way into journalism, he earned degrees in history from Cornell University (where he was an outstanding pinball player) and the University of California at Berkeley. When he isn’t blogging at Hearing Health & Technology Matters, David enjoys spending time with his wife, Annie, going to plays and movies in New York, traveling, and relaxing in their vacation place in Mid-Coast Maine. His other avocations include rooting for the Yankees and throwing tennis balls for his puli, Isaac.

Study of whale earwax sheds light on the health of the oceans

WACO, TX—Like many mammals, whales have wax in their ears. And, given how large they are—blue whales can grow to nearly 100 feet in length and weigh close to 200 tons—it’s not surprising that they pack a lot of earwax. Whether it interferes with their hearing is hard to say; it doesn’t seem that any marine audiologists have tested whales

What are the telltale signs that you might be an audiologist?

• When you tell people what you do for a living, do they often say, “What?”–and expect you to laugh? • When you’re standing behind an elderly person in the supermarket checkout line, do you have to resist a powerful urge to push his earmold properly into his ear? • Do you find battery stickers on the bottom of your shoes and

Study suggests that sound therapy may help protect ears against cancer drugs

ROCKVILLE, MD—Next to being exposed to excessive noise, one of the most common causes of irreversible hearing loss in people of all ages is exposure to chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer. Cisplatin and the aminoglycoside antibiotics, two classes of drugs commonly used with cancer patients, are both toxic to mechanosensory hair cells, the receptor cells of the inner ear.

Meet Matthew Eversmann, spokesman for IHS’s Fit to Serve Campaign

By David H. Kirkwood WASHINGTON, DC–Twenty years ago, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Matthew Eversmann was under enemy fire in Mogadishu, Somalia, during a battle that inspired the 2001 movie Blackhawk Down. Eversmann, who had just been given his first command, led his paratrooper unit, Ranger Chalk Four, to the assistance of a U.S. helicopter crew. Their chopper, Black Hawk Super-Six

Craig Johnson, former ADA president and advocate for autonomy in audiology, dies

OWINGS MILLS, MD—Craig W. Johnson, a pioneering audiologist who founded and ran the first private audiology practice in Maryland and then became a leading advocate for his profession, died on October 9. A native of Baltimore, Johnson was one of the few audiologists ever to simultaneously hold leadership positions with two major professional audiology organizations. He served on the board

After the return of the BTE, can an eyeglass hearing aid renaissance be far behind?

By David H. Kirkwood BLACKSBURG, VA—The answer to that question is decidedly yes, very far behind. To be sure, behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids, which were the dominant style in the U.S. in the 1960s and then dwindled to less than 20% of the market in the early 1990s, did launch a dramatic comeback over the past decade and now

VA-funded study will test effectiveness of motivational tools with hearing aid users

PORTLAND, OR—When people are fitted with hearing aids, they often face difficulty in obtaining the maximum benefit from them. That’s why the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which fits more than half a million hearing aids a year on U.S. military veterans, is sponsoring a 2-year pilot study to explore if certain tools and techniques can help patients make the

Synthetic speech promises to ungarble PA announcements in noisy places

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND—We’ve all heard PA announcements that sound something like this: “ONNAWAWA Airlines Flight seven-WAWAWA-ty-four will depart from Gate sixty GAWAGWA at WAWAWA forty-five.” Or, “This subway train has been delayed because of WAWAOMOMONWA. Passengers should not ONHONHOHN until WAWAWA. Thank you for your patience.” But now, according to a report from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, scientists there

Children’s short-term hearing loss can cause permanent damage, study suggests

BOSTON—It’s long been known that transitory hearing loss in childhood can have permanent effects on a child’s development. The temporary conductive hearing problems that so many children suffer due to ear infections may interfere with their ability to learn and develop communication skills, with results that often continue long after the hearing loss has ended. However, recent research with animal

Pity the French horn player

By David H. Kirkwood For reasons that are difficult to fathom, news of a research study showing that French horn players are the classical musicians most likely to suffer from noise-induces hearing loss has gone viral. All over the media, from NPR to Classic FM, from US News & World Report and the Huffington Post to iNOOZ, this news is