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.

Using cotton swabs may rupture eardrums

CHICAGO–Hearing professionals have long been cautioning their patients not to use Q-tips or other small items to clean their ear canals. Now a study by Henry Ford Hospital shows that their advice was well-founded. The study, which was presented April 29 at the Combined Otolaryngology Spring Meeting in Chicago, found a direct association between the use of cotton swabs and

Oregon to get its first AuD program

FOREST GROVE, OR—For more than a decade, there has been no place in Oregon where a prospective audiologist could get training in the field of her (or his) choice. That will change in fall 2012 when Pacific University’s College of Health Professions will begin training future audiologists through a clinical doctorate degree program (AuD) Ann Barr, vice-provost and executive dean

NFL players bring hearing help to Africa

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK–While National Football League owners shut players out of training camps this spring, that doesn’t mean the professional gridders have been idle. Last month, a group of them spent a week in Rwanda and Uganda helping provide hearing aids to children in need. Their humanitarian trip was a project of Pros for Africa (PFA), a non-profit relief organization

Audiologists helping kids in Japan

NORMAL, IL–The Educational Audiology Association (EAA) and the Marion Downs Hearing Center in Boulder, CO, have teamed up in a relief effort focused on schools for the deaf and for mainstream deaf and hard-of hearing students in areas of Japan recently devastated by earthquake and tsunami. A secure site for monetary donations has been established at Marion Downs Hearing Center

Alma mater honors Ross Roeser

DeKALB, IL–Ross J. Roeser, PhD, the founder and long-time former executive director of the Callier Hearing and Speech Center in Dallas, has received the Northern Illinois University College of Health and Human Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award for 2011. Roeser, who earned his MA in audiology from NIU in 1967, is currently a chaired professor at the University of Texas, Dallas/

NIH-funded study to look at value of high-tech hearing aids

MEMPHIS, TN–Robyn Cox, PhD, a prominent professor of audiology at the University of Memphis, has been awarded a 5-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to research the effectiveness of hearing aids. Cox will recruit subjects to use hearing aids in the school’s laboratory and in their daily lives while measuring their performance with different levels of

Two restaurants looped for hearing-impaired

SARASOTA, FL–Two local restaurants in this Gulf Coast city are the first in the nation to offer a tabletop sound system that sends voices from a microphone directly into a hearing aid or cochlear implant, according to Edward F. Ogiba, president of the Hearing Loss Association of Sarasota. The restaurants–Caragiulo’s and Owens Fish Camp–are both owned by Paul Caragiulo, who

Seeing an MD often doesn’t lead to hearing help

LONDON–Thirty-nine percent of people in the United Kingdom who consult their primary-care physician about a hearing loss go no further to seek a solution, according to a study reported this week by the British Hearing Aid Manufacturers Association (BHAMA). The EuroTrak United Kingdom study asked 15,000 consumers about their hearing and their knowledge of hearing aids in the most comprehensive

Hearing loss is no handicap, says NHL player

PITTSBURGH-Trailing three games to one in its first round match-up against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the National Hockey League playoffs, the Tampa Bay Lightning will be facing elimination when it takes the ice here Saturday (April 23). If there’s one player on the team suited to help lead Tampa Bay back from the brink, it may be right wing Steve

Hearing aid sales rise 5% in first quarter

WASHINGTON, DC–U.S. hearing aid sales increased by 5.0% during the first three months of 2011 over the same period last year, according to data collected from manufacturers by the Hearing Industries Association. The fastest growth was in sales to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which rose by 7.6% over 2010. The 135,725 instruments purchased by the VA represented 19.7% of