Robert Traynor

Robert M. Traynor, Ed.D., is a hearing industry consultant, trainer, professor, conference speaker, practice manager and author. He is a founding member of HHTM and had previously written a regular weekly column for the site for many years. He has decades of experience teaching courses and training clinicians within the field of audiology with specific emphasis in hearing and tinnitus rehabilitation. He serves as Adjunct Faculty in Audiology at the University of Florida, University of Northern Colorado, University of Colorado and The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Featured image for “Development of the TTY – Part III”

Development of the TTY – Part III

Welcome to Hearing International’s third component of the development of the TTY. In parts 1 and 2 we learned that the inventor of the TTY, Robert H. Weitbrecht; a deaf orthodontist from Pasadena, James C. Marsters, and Andrew Saks, a deaf engineer and heir to Saks 5th Avenue, met at an A.G. Bell Convention in Salt Lake City in 1964. Marsters introduced Weitbrecht to

Featured image for “Development of the TTY – Part II”

Development of the TTY – Part II

Lang (2000) reports that in 1964, at the time of the introduction of touch-tone phones, there were more than 85 million telephones in the United States and Canada but less than one percent were used regularly by deaf people. If they didn’t ask their hearing neighbors for help, people with hearing loss depended upon their hearing children, some as young as three years

Featured image for “Development of the TTY – Part I”

Development of the TTY – Part I

In the mid 1970s, as a young audiologist working in a university aural rehabilitation clinic, I inherited an old TTY. ‘Old’, at the time, was 1960s technology that cost between $650 and $1000, making it a luxury item that very few deaf individuals could afford. Each person who was communicating required their own TTY so it was definitely an expensive device. Additionally, the TTY was large, cumbersome, and somewhat frustrating

Protruding/Prominent Ear Surgery – Revisited

A couple of years ago at Hearing International we discussed a relatively new surgical procedure that was being conducted in the UK for protruding/prominent ears. The discussion of the Earfold procedure was so popular that in 2014 it was the Reader’s Choice for the year. There have been so many comments to us on this topic that it seemed fitting at the beginning

Featured image for “2016 and the Cheeseburger in Paradise”

2016 and the Cheeseburger in Paradise

As we begin another new year at Hearing International it is fitting to wish all that come here a Happy New Year in their own language (Click here for greetings in 40 languages). The New Year means different things in the many cultures and it is celebrated differently in various parts of the world. In Western culture, people stay up late to ring

Featured image for “You Can’t Lick a Team That Won’t Be Licked”

You Can’t Lick a Team That Won’t Be Licked

Remember the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire, the story of the 1924 Olympic track team? While Mike Murphy wasn’t a member or a coach of the famous 1924 team that won 32 medals in the Summer Olympics in Paris, the team owes its legacy to him. Murphy (1860-1913) was a sprinter, one of the first football coaches, and a premier track

Featured image for “Directed Audio: New Technology for Mild Hearing Loss”

Directed Audio: New Technology for Mild Hearing Loss

The Newest in Hearing Technology IS NOT a Hearing Aid! People with hearing loss are not alone. They are among 32 million Americans and 360 million individuals worldwide with hearing loss. Roughly 1/3 of individuals over age 65 have a significant hearing impairment, making hearing loss the third most common chronic condition among older Americans.On the average, those with hearing

Featured image for “International Giants in Otology: Robert Bárány”

International Giants in Otology: Robert Bárány

According to Pearce (2007), Magnus Gustaf Retzius (1842–1919) initiated the anatomical studies of the semicircular apparatus. The physiologist Jean Pierre Flourens (1794–1867) in 1825 had observed that when a pigeon’s horizontal semicircular canal was destroyed, it went on turning horizontally in a circle. Purkinje (1787–1869) proved that changing the head position induced vertigo in man. And then? …………… total silence

Featured image for “International Giants in Otology: Politzer”

International Giants in Otology: Politzer

Another major player in the development of 19th century otology was the Hungarian otologist, Adam Politzer (1835-1920). Born to a wealthy Jewish family in 1835 in Alberti about 35 miles southeast of Budapest, young Adam was schooled by the founders of the Modern Medical School of Vienna where special interest was taken in his development by two influential people, Johann Ritter von Oppolzer (1808–1871) an Austrian physician, and the

Featured image for “International Giants in Otology: Prosper Ménière”

International Giants in Otology: Prosper Ménière

Over the past few weeks we have been reviewing the development of the field of Otology. Throughout time many have made contributions to the field, but study really took off after the development of the microscope in 1595. Since that time history finds more individuals investigating the structure and function of the auditory system. Moving into the 19th century there