Hearing News Watch

By David H. Kirkwood  RESTON, VA–The American Academy of Audiology (AAA) has selected a new executive director, Tanya Tolpegin, to take over the leadership of its professional staff effective October 6. Tolpegin, whose appointment was announced to the academy membership on September 2 three days after being reported here, will succeed Cheryl Kreider Carey, who was dismissed as executive director

By David H. Kirkwood  DENVER–The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which is far and away America’s largest purchaser of hearing aids, has awarded contracts, effective November 1, to buy products from the U.S. divisions of all six of the world’s largest hearing aid manufacturers. Although the contracts with GN ReSound, Oticon Inc., Phonak LLC, Siemens Hearing Instruments, Starkey Hearing Technologies, and Widex

The incidence of hearing impairment among children rose by 15% between 2001 and 2011, according to a study published last week in Pediatrics, an online publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The article, “Changing Trends of Childhood Disability,” reported an overall increase of 15.6% in childhood disabilities of all types over that period of time. For their study,

By David H. Kirkwood ARLINGTON, VA—A Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) report concludes that personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) “offer a viable solution to hearing aids for consumers who have hearing difficulty.” It continues, “While consumers who suffer from more severe hearing difficulties may still require hearing aids, PSAPs offer a simpler and often less expensive alternative for those with some

  EDEN PRAIRIE, MN–It’s official, says Bloomberg News: William F. “Bill” Austin, founder, CEO, and sole owner of Starkey Hearing Technologies, is a billionaire. That statement didn’t surprise people in the hearing industry, who are well aware that Austin’s company has long been by far the largest American hearing aid manufacturer, and ranks among the world’s “Big Six” hearing aid

MENLO PARK, CA—Brent Edwards, PhD, who during a decade as vice-president for research at Starkey Hearing Technologies and as founder and director of the Starkey Hearing Research Center in Berkeley helped transform the company into an industry technology leader, has joined EarLens Corporation as chief technology officer (CTO). EarLens, a privately held medical device company incorporated in 2005, makes the

BALTIMORE—When Google Glass came onto the market this spring, many technophiles celebrated the arrival of this tiny, head-mounted computer that would allow them to make phone calls, view maps, send texts, and take videos while out jogging or riding a bike. Others, though, viewed this latest futuristic product from Google with alarm, fearing for their privacy if Glass wearers started

By David H. Kirkwood WASHINGTON, DC–Consider all the reasons why hearing aid sales should have risen through the roof over the past decade or two. For one thing, there have been dramatic improvements in technology, fueled largely by the introduction of digital signal processing in the 1990s. Powerful 21st century hearing aid hardware and software provide consumers with far more

ROCHESTER, NY–Robert F. Panara, a pioneer in deaf education who was a founder of both the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) and the National Theater of the Deaf in Connecticut, died here on July 20 at age 94. Despite losing his hearing when he was only 10 as a result of spinal meningitis, the Bronx, NY, native’s strong

By David H. Kirkwood   This post was updated on July 31. CENTENNIAL, CO—People with hearing loss have long complained that Medicare doesn’t cover the cost of hearing aids. Now, older Americans who need help with their hearing face the loss of coverage for another type of treatment, osseo-integrated (or bone-anchored) devices, such as the Cochlear™ Baha Implant System, which have been