Hearing News Watch

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY — After a summer trip to India to visit his grandfather and assist him in obtaining hearing aids, Mukund Venkatakrishnan came away feeling very negatively about the entire experience. He then took it upon himself over the next two years to see if he could do something about it. After two years of work, 16 year-old Mukund has created

DENVER, COLORADO — While at a fundraising stop in Denver last week, Hillary Clinton’s campaign was accused of using a “static noise machine” to prevent reporters waiting outside from hearing her remarks, according to Stan Bush, a reporter from Denver’s CBS-4 local news. The event took place outside at the home of Colorado’s governor, John Hickenlooper, who also happens to

PHOENIX, ARIZONA — In addition to HHTM’s very own Dr. Wayne Staab receiving the prestigious Samuel F. Lybarger Award for Achievements in Industry, several other notable individuals will be receiving awards when the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) holds its annual AudiologyNow convention next week in Phoenix.   Jerger Award for Research in Audiology: Ruth A. Bentler, PhD Dr. Bentler is

MILAN, ITALY — According to an April 1 report in Bloomberg, Amplifon SpA has secured financing for a bid for major European hearing aid retailer AudioNova. Amplifon, which owns major US hearing aid retailer Miracle Ear, as well as the Elite Hearing Network, appears ready to compete directly with likely bids coming from major hearing aid manufacturers William Demant and Sonova. Private equity

TOKYO, JAPAN – The NEC Corporation announced that it has developed a new type of biometric identification technology, which recognizes individuals based on the acoustic resonance of the ear, according to a March 7 press release. The technology, says the company, instantaneously measures the unique acoustic characteristics of an individual’s ear in approximately one second. Using an earphone with a

GALVESTON, TEXAS — In a newly published study in the journal Pediatrics, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) have found that ear infection rates among young children in the US are on the decline.  The results, suggest researchers, are likely due to increases in vaccinations and breastfeeding. In the study, researchers followed more than 360 families with infants from 2008 to

TAMPA, FLORIDA — A Florida licensed audiologist was sentenced to 94 months in prison on March 21st, according to a US Justice Department news release, for her participation in a multimillion-dollar health care fraud and money laundering scheme. According the Justice Department, Terri Schneider, of Lakeland, Florida, was sentenced in the Middle District Court of Florida, where the judge also ordered her

BETHESDA, MARYLAND –  The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) Board of Trustees announced, in a March 21st press release, the appointment of Barbara Kelley as the new Executive Director of HLAA. Kelley, who served as acting Executive Director following the resignation of Anna Gilmore Hall in January, has been with the organization for 28 years. Previously, she served as deputy Executive Director

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Samsung has unveiled yet another set of technologies developed by its secretive C-Lab, this time at the SXSW festival in Texas. One of the most interesting of its latest projects is a new headset called Entrim 4D, which enhances the experience of virtual reality (VR) by using electrical stimulation of the inner ear, known as Galvanic Vestibular

Audiology has yet again landed in the top 10 “Least Stressful” jobs for another year. Out of more than 200 jobs, CareerCast.com puts audiology at number 8 in 2016, with a job stress score of 9.3 out of a scale of 1 to 85. Somehow, inexplicably, scoring as less stressful than librarian (whose stress score is 10.58). While audiology no longer holds