Hearing News Watch

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND—We’ve all heard PA announcements that sound something like this:  “ONNAWAWA Airlines Flight seven-WAWAWA-ty-four will depart from Gate sixty GAWAGWA at WAWAWA forty-five.” Or, “This subway train has been delayed because of WAWAOMOMONWA.  Passengers should not ONHONHOHN until WAWAWA. Thank you for your patience.” But now, according to a report from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, scientists there

BOSTON—It’s long been known that transitory hearing loss in childhood can have permanent effects on a child’s development. The temporary conductive hearing problems that so many children suffer due to ear infections may interfere with their ability to learn and develop communication skills, with results that often continue long after the hearing loss has ended. However, recent research with animal

By David H. Kirkwood For reasons that are difficult to fathom, news of a research study showing that French horn players are the classical musicians most likely to suffer from noise-induces hearing loss has gone viral. All over the media, from NPR to Classic FM, from US News & World Report and the Huffington Post to iNOOZ, this news is

WASHINGTON, DC—Andy Bopp has been promoted to the position of executive director of the Hearing Industries Association (HIA). Carole Rogin, who will remain president of HIA, said that Bopp, who has been director of government relations for the past decade, will assume responsibility for HIA’s regulatory and statistical programs and other special member initiatives. In announcing the appointment, Rogin said,

COPENHAGEN—The latest development in a continuing trend in the hearing aid industry toward manufacturer control of the retail sector took place today (October 1) when GN Store Nord A/S acquired a major Danish hearing aid dispensing network, Dansk Hørecenter. GN, owner of GN ReSound, made the purchase through its Beltone subsidiary. The price was not disclosed. According to GN’s announcement,

  ROCKVILLE, MD—The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the early warning signs of speech, language, and hearing issues. The initiative, dubbed Identify the Signs, was inspired by a survey of ASHA members that found that public lack of awareness of the signs of communications problems is the number one barrier to early

NEW YORK—Three pioneering scientists who led the way to developing the cochlear implant received the prestigious Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award at ceremonies held here on September 20. The 2013 honorees are Graeme M. Clark, Ingeborg Hochmair, and Blake S. Wilson, whose work contributed so much to enabling profoundly deaf people to hear. In announcing the award winners, the Albert

SPRINGFIELD, MO—Michael Argenyi is not the only would-be health care provider who took his college to court on charges that it had failed to accommodate his hearing loss as required by law. In Springfield, MO, Jessica Wells, who had been studying for an associate’s degree in nursing, sued Cox College of Nursing after it threw her out of the program

BONITA SPRINGS, FL—From the opening night reception in the exhibit hall on Thursday, November 7, through a quartet of Sunday morning workshops, the Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA) 2013 Convention is designed to offer members and other attendees four days of “Great Transformations [to] Take Your Practice from Ordinary to Extraordinary.” Held at the 26-acre Hyatt Regency Coconut Point

By Tom Parker Most people are used to seeing someone wearing custom earplugs or hearing aids, but only rarely do you see someone with no ears at all. This condition can be the result of an accident, but just as often people are born without outer ears, i.e., the exterior part of the ear known as the pinna. Apart from