Hearing News Watch

WASHINGTON, DC–Five scientists whose contributions led to the invention of the cochlear implant, which has provided hearing to hundreds of thousands of deaf people, will receive the 2015 Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize, awarded biennially by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The honorees–Graeme M. Clark, MD, PhD; Michael M. Merzenich, PhD; Erwin Hochmair, D.Tech; Ingeborg J. Hochmair-Desoyer, PhD;

By David H. Kirkwood LONDON–Bernstein Research, a leading analyst of the hearing aid industry, sees continued growth and higher stock prices in 2015 and beyond for GN Store Nord (GN), parent company of ReSound. However, as the title of its latest report, Hearing Aids: A Review of the Major Sector Trends Going into 2015. Still Prefer GN and Would Stay

    BLOOMINGTON, MN—Rarely is a hearing aid credited by anyone outside the hearing industry with changing the world. But that is just what happened when Mashable.com selected ReSound LiNX as one of “14 innovations that improved the world in 2014.” LiNX, which was introduced last January, is a Bluetooth-enabled hearing aid that allows the user to stream stereo sound

  DENVER—As 2014 drew to a close, National Public Radio paid tribute to the late Dr. Marion Downs as someone whose life’s story deserved to be better known than it had been. On the December 28 broadcast of the program All Things Considered, the NPR reporter Becky Sullivan noted that until the past 20 years or so babies who were

WASHINGTON, DC—How well are the current Federal Communication Commission (FCC) hearing aid compatibility rules for wireless handsets meeting the needs of people who are deaf and hard of hearing? And should the compatibility rules be changed to apply to all mobile wireless devices used for voice communications? Those are issues that the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunication Bureau and its Consumer and

Dear Readers: During this holiday season, the editors at Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) are taking some time off. However, we are not leaving you without anything to read on our blog this week. Instead, we are publishing a special holiday edition filled with what we call our Readers’ Choices. HHTM has had more than half a million page

By David H. Kirkwood ARDEN HILLS, MN—Hearing care providers are familiar with the world’s “Big Six” hearing aid manufacturers, or at least their flagship brands. That’s only natural, as together Sonova, William Demant, GN Store Nord, Siemens, Starkey, and Widex account for over 90% of the devices sold in the U.S. and Western Europe. However, while their names are much

  WASHINGTON, DC—If more than 25 million of your members have a hearing loss, it really does makes sense to offer them information about the condition and how to address it. That’s just what AARP announced last week that it was doing with the launch of its Hearing Resource Center. The purpose of the online platform is to provide AARP’s

  By David H. Kirkwood LEXINGTON, KY—Support is growing rapidly for the Audiology Patient Choice Act (HR 5304), ambitious federal legislation initiated by the Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA) and introduced into the House of Representatives last July. If enacted, the measure would provide Medicare patients direct access to audiologists and would grant audiologists limited license status within Medicare.

  SOUTHAMPTON, UK–When Marion Downs died on November 13 at the age of 100, her long-time colleague, friend, and co-author, Jerry Northern, wrote, “She leaves a legacy that will forever be remembered for her many, many contributions to the field of audiology.” The truth of that statement, which was echoed by many other audiologists in obituaries on this blog and