Hearing News Watch

WASHINGTON, DC–The Accreditation Commission for Audiology Education (ACAE) got a much-needed boost earlier this month when Starkey Hearing Technologies, in conjunction with Widex USA, Inc., announced that they would provide $160,000 to the commission over the next three years, 2014-2016. ACAE is an independent non-profit organization that accredits university graduate programs in audiology. It was created by audiology organizations to

Pete Townshend of the Who, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, and Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath (and the hit “reality” TV show, The Osbournes) have all told the world about suffering hearing loss during their long careers as rockers. So have their fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Eric Clapton, Neil Young, and Jeff Beck. And the list

By David H. Kirkwood LONDON–A report issued July 9 by the British Commission on Hearing Loss further confirms the enormous economic toll that untreated hearing loss takes on those with the condition–as well as the rest of society. It also explores why in the United Kingdom, where hearing aids are free, only 20% of the 10 million people with hearing

ST. PAUL, MN—The biggest annual fundraising event in hearing health care will take place here this Sunday evening, July 20, when the Starkey Hearing Foundation holds the 2014 So the World May Hear gala. A highlight will be the presentation of awards to a number of remarkable humanitarians honoring their dedication to improving the lives of others. Those singled out

By David H. Kirkwood  July 13 update German’s victory over Argentina this afternoon in the final of the 2014 World Cup adds further evidence that, contrary to Hear the World’s theory (see below), the team whose fans are quieter than its opponent’s has the advantage because its members have less noise-induced hearing loss. Or, just possibly, the Germans were better

  POMONA, CA—How much of the day are American workers exposed to loud noise—loud enough that someone in their workplace has to raise his or her voice to be heard? The answer to that depends on whom you ask—employees or employers. When Pomona-based EPIC (Ear Professionals International Corporation) Hearing Healthcare commissioned a company to ask that question as part of

CUPERTINO, CA—Soundhawk, a high-tech start-up company with an impressive pedigree, began taking advance orders last week on its web site for a $279 “smart listening system.” According to Soundhawk’s founder, Rodney Perkins, MD, an otologist at Stanford University School of Medicine and founder of the California Ear Institute, the new system “is the culmination of a lifetime of hard work in

LONDON–Neeti Kailas, a young Indian woman on a mission to bring universal hearing screening of newborn babies to her country, is one of six visionaries under age 30 named to receive this year’s Rolex Awards for Enterprise. The winners, selected from 1800 applicants, were announced on June 24 by the Royal Society in London. Each will receive 50,000 Swiss francs (about

Since its founding in April 2011, HearingHealthMatters.org (HHTM) has quickly emerged as one of the most widely read and most influential publications in the hearing field. I use the term “hearing field” advisedly, since, unlike nearly all the other print and online publications concerned with hearing, ours is written not only for hearing care providers, but also for consumers with

BOSTON–Anna Gilmore Hall, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), contends that in failing to consider hearing loss as a substantial, catastrophic injury, One Fund Boston, the foundation created to help victims of the April 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, is discriminating against many of the runners and spectators who were severely injured in the terrorist attack. In