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 “Cochlear Explorers – Part XI – Hardesty’s Membrane”

Cochlear Explorers – Part XI – Hardesty’s Membrane

Welcome back to Hearing International‘s continuing series honoring the Cochlear Explorers, those who first described aspects of cochlear anatomy and physiology that later were named after them. Week XI’s Cochlear Explorer is the only American in the group, Irving Hardesty (1866-1944), who considered the tectorial membrane as the vibrating mechanism within the cochlea. Hardesty’s Membrane Covering the sulcus spiralis internus and the spiral organ of Corti is the tectorial membrane, which is attached to

Featured image for “Cochlear Explorers – Part X – Scarpa’s Ganglion”

Cochlear Explorers – Part X – Scarpa’s Ganglion

Welcome back to Hearing International‘s continuing series honoring the Cochlear Explorers, those who first described cochlear anatomy and physiology that later were named after their explorers. Week X’s Cochlear Explorer is the Italian Antonio Scarpa (1797-1832), the master of the anatomists influencing many of those that followed him in the literature. Scarpa, one of the very first cochlear explorers, observed the vestibular ganglion, which now bears his name. Scarpa’s

Cochlear Explorers – Part IX – Huschke’s Teeth

Emil Huschke (1797-1858) is featured this week in Hearing International’s continuing series honoring the Cochlear Explorers. Born in Weimar, Germany, Week IX’s Cochlear Explorer became famous in auditory cochlear anatomy for describing protruding plates that are in contact with the tectorial membrane. Recall that there are lots of cells and other structures within the body named after the researchers who first described them and these are called Eponyms. Our latest cochlear explorer’s name is

Featured image for “Team Canada Healing Hands Project in Haiti”

Team Canada Healing Hands Project in Haiti

The Cochlear Explorer series will resume in a couple of weeks with our discussion of Emil Huschke and “Huschke’s Teeth.” This week, however, Dr. Jay Hall sent Hearing International an article about an important ongoing project in Haiti. For our readers in France, Haiti, French Canada and other Francophone countries, this post is published not only in English but also in French. Our deep

Featured image for “Cochlear Explorers – Part VII – Reissner’s Membrane”

Cochlear Explorers – Part VII – Reissner’s Membrane

Welcome to part VII of Hearing International’s series honoring the Cochlear Explorers. This week’s explorer is Ernst Reissner (1824-1878), a Baltic German anatomist from Riga, Livonia. Recall that there are many cells and other structures in the body named after the researchers who first described them. These are called Eponyms. The name of this week’s cochlear explorer, Reissner (prounced rīs′nĕr), is lent to Reissner’s membrane, a membrane inside the cochlea of the inner ear that Reissner was the first person to identify

Featured image for “Hair Cell Rock and Roll”

Hair Cell Rock and Roll

Taking off a bit on last week’s controversy between Thomas Gold and Georg von Bekesy , rivals on their respective sides of the argument of passive versus resonance theories of cochlear mechanics. While researching last week’s Hearing International, I came across an interesting discussion of hair cell electromotility. Recall that the predominate cochlear mechanics theory of the 1950s, 1960s and for part of the

The Von Bekesy – Gold Controversy

While both of these renown American scientists were foreign born, they both emigrated to the US furthering their already stellar scientific careers. Georg von Bekesy (1899-1972), a Hungarian citizen, he had moved to the United States in 1947 after working in various European laboratories and found himself at the Harvard University in the Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory. At the time, the labs at Harvard were the “seat” of

Featured image for “Dreams of a Hearing Impaired Rocket Scientist”

Dreams of a Hearing Impaired Rocket Scientist

Edward Ciołkowskia was a Polish orthodox priest who was deported deep into the heart of Russia on the order of Alexander II because of his political activities. Edward Russianized his name and married an educated Tartar woman; they had 18 children of whom Konstantin was fifth. Living about 120 miles south of Moscow in the Spassky District, young Konstantin’s father became a forester, teacher and

Featured image for “The Drive of Miss Daisy”

The Drive of Miss Daisy

The scouting movement began in England in 1907, based on the ideas of its founder, Sir Robert S. S. Baden-Powell, and his book Scouting for Boys. That book is a rewrite of his earlier military books Reconnaissance and Scouting (1884) and Aids to Scouting for NCOs and Men (1899), which are fundamentally military manual which the British Army used to train

The Marriage of Bluetooth Hearing to Smart Phones

We have all heard the term “smartphone,” and by now most of us are using one. How is a smartphone different from a cell phone, and what makes it so smart? Generally, a smartphone is a device that lets you make telephone calls, but also adds in features that, in the past, you would have found only on a personal digital assistant or