Hearing News Watch

SCOTTSDALE, AZ—The American Auditory Society (AAS) held its 40th annual Scientific and Technology Meeting here March 7-9. Since its founding in 1973, AAS has pursued the goal of increasing knowledge and understanding of the ear, hearing, and balance; disorders of the ear, hearing, and balance, and preventions of these disorders; and habilitation and rehabilitation of individuals with hearing and balance

RESTON, VA—Erin L. Miller, AuD, the coordinator of the Northeast Ohio AuD Consortium, will become president-elect of the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) on July 1, succeeding Bettie Borton, AuD, the current president-elect who will take over the presidency on that date from Deborah Carlson, PhD. Miller and four AAA directors were elected by the academy’s membership in voting that

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND–More than 360 million people, about 5% of the world’s population, have disabling hearing loss, according to estimates released by WHO (the World Health Organization) just in time for International Ear Care Day on March 3. That number is more than the total population of the United States or of any other country except for China and India. Even

  NEW YORK–If anyone can make hearing aids cool for little boys, it’s got to be a Marvel superhero. That’s why Phonak, a major hearing aid manufacturer, has teamed up with Marvel to create the poster shown above. Written by Marvel’s Christos Gage and drawn by Paco Medina, the poster shown above depicts Iron Man, one of the world’s most

By David H. Kirkwood ERLANGEN, GERMANY—More than three years after Siemens tried to sell its hearing aid division but failed to attract an acceptable bid, reports on The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch web site and elsewhere online say that the German industrial giant is planning to try again later this year. The reports cite unnamed informed sources. Siemens has declined

Factory workers, soldiers, miners, and bartenders are among those whose jobs often put them at risk of hearing loss. Now you can add sports referees to the list of potentially ear-unfriendly occupations. So report two audiologists, Gregory Flamme and Nathan Williams, in a study published last month in The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene and also written about in

SOMERSET, NJ—Readers of this blog and anyone else who cares about hearing health are invited to help select the winners in the 2013 Focus on People Awards program, sponsored by Oticon, Inc., a major hearing aid manufacturer. From today, February 26, through March 31, the polls will be open at Oticon’s web site. There, voters will find information about the

By David H. Kirkwood For audiologists and other hearing healthcare providers, there’s been no more disturbing development in recent years than the explosion in the sale of hearing aids directly to consumer sales. When hard-of-hearing consumers buy hearing aids without the care of a trained professional, practitioners lose out on the revenues they would have received if these consumers had

COWLEY, UK–Former workers at the Cowley car plant in an industrial area of Oxfordshire, England, have been awarded more than 15 million British pounds (over $23 million US) in insurance payouts in compensation for damage to their ears suffered during decades of work in the noisy, 100-year-old factory. Most of the claims have been brought against BMW Group, the German

CHICAGO–Gloria Wong, AuD, received the annual award for Outstanding Audiology Services from the Illinois Department of Human Services. Field counselors from the Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) were asked to nominate audiologists who had provided outstanding services. Wong was selected for her dedication and for the quality of services provided to DRS clients. Wong has been manager of the Audiology