Hear In Private Practice

by Katherine Bouton   People with hearing loss got a bit of a break last week when the US Food and Drug Administration announced that it is considering creating a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids. The aim, it said, would be to encourage “new, innovative, lower-cost products to millions of consumers.” Thirty million Americans suffer age-related hearing loss. Only

by Roy Rasmussen Use of cochlear implants is on the rise. By the end of 2010, approximately 219,000 people worldwide had received a cochlear implant, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Approximately 40 percent of children born profoundly deaf were receiving implants by the end of 2014, a rise of 25 percent in five years, prompting the Department

By Leendert van der Ent, Audiology Infos The Netherlands   Rechargeable batteries for hearing aids have been around for some time. Until recently they were a footnote in hearing aid history. That is now about to change. Now the milestone of a full day of service-without-recharge can be guaranteed, the market seems on the brink of change. The less doubt

by Mike Metz   Getting back to our roots, James Jerger’s editorial in a recent trade publication (Jerger, J, Audiology Today, Is It Time to Panic?  Sep/Oct, 2016), raises some issues that may prove pivotal to the field.  And impending changes to the scope and practice of audiology may get some help from a peculiar source, especially in light of

By Mike Metz A friend recently asked me for an audiology referral because he had a unilateral hearing problem along with some other rather vague symptoms.  I sent him on but then began thinking of the differences in audiology now versus audiology in years past. Many audiologists work in a medical office setting, overseen by a physician.  This group may

Editor’s Note: OK, put on your seat belts and prepare for disruption, or at least one professional’s view of such.    By Geoffrey Cooling I read a recent commentary at the Hearing Review a few weeks ago and frankly it made me giggle a bit. In fact, it made me giggle a lot. In essence, it said that people are far too stupid

Tony Grant-Salmon from the British hearing aid manufacturer’s association has compiled all the available sales figures from Europe for 2015 in this report. 2015 witnessed a 4% increase in sales over the previous year; strong results in The Netherlands, the UK private sector, Italy, France and Switzerland provided the biggest contributions to the increase.   This year’s study of hearing

by Mike Metz After a couple of go-rounds on this topic, it lends itself to even more consideration.  What if the manufacturers and the big-box retailers do nothing and continue selling locked hearing aids?  What would be a likely result if all manufacturers unlocked all software?  What would result from actions in the “middle ground” between these extremes?  And, who

by Mike Metz A short time ago, I wrote a post regarding lack of access to the software of some hearing aids.  My comments arose from conversations with other dispensing audiologists.  They saw patients that were having problems with hearing aids purchased from large distributors — Big Box stores primarily.  Evidently, patients believed that they were not getting sufficient benefits from

 by Steve Eagon, MA   In part 1 of this two-part series, I mentioned how we’ve all heard about the Baby-Boomers flooding our offices, and the unique challenges they bring.  In this article, I’m going to make suggestions based upon what I’ve seen from various hearing care professionals around North America who are addressing these Boomer characteristics.  These new approaches