Hearing News Watch

PORTLAND, OR—All those victims of Bieber Fever who have been following Betts v. Bieber on this blog can heave a sigh of relief. Stacey Wilson Betts, a 35-year-old Oregon woman who was seeking $9.23 million from the 18-year-old Canadian pop star for damages that she said he had caused to her hearing, withdrew her lawsuit last week. In the suit,

By David H. Kirkwood BANGOR, ME—For 31 years, hearing loss did not prevent Rosemary Kelley from working as a teacher’s assistant in the Sonshine Nursery School in Friendship, Maine. However, in December 2010, Kelley lost her job after the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) ruled that because of her hearing loss, for which she wore hearing aids,

CHICAGO—The call went out last week for nominations for the 14th annual Larry Mauldin Award. Since 1999, the Mauldin Awards have recognized individuals who have demonstrated unsurpassed dedication to excellence in education and professionalism in the hearing care field and who have unselfishly given back to their profession, the community and those with hearing loss. The annual award, which is

WASHINGTON, DC—Advocates for people with hearing loss charge that Amazon.com has repeatedly violated new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules governing Internet captioning requirements. Several advocacy groups, including the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), stated their case in a complaint filed December 20 with the FCC. Under a rule that took effect September 30, 2012, most full-length, non-live video programming shown

By David H. Kirkwood  SILVER SPRING, MD–The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has thrown a monkey wrench into hi HealthInnovations’ controversial new online program to test consumers’ hearing and sell them custom-fitted hearing aids without any involvement by licensed hearing healthcare professionals. In a letter dated March 28, 2012, Steven Silverman, director of the Office of Compliance at FDA’s Center

NAERUM, DENMARK–A mnemonic device featuring three wise monkeys, a campaign to make hairdressers more mindful of their clients’ hearing loss, and a “hearing loss” flavor of ice cream are among the ten finalists in the Ida Institute’s worldwide competition “Ideas, Speak up – Action and Awareness for Hearing Loss.” Since April 2012 when the Oticon Foundation and the non-profit Ida

The following is based on the obituary provided by the House Research Institute.   AURORA, OR–William F. House, MD, who pioneered the cochlear implant, died at his home in Aurora on December 7, at age 89. “William House was considered the Father of Neurotology because of his pioneering development approaches for the removal of acoustic tumors and the management of

By David H. Kirkwood ST. JOSEPH, MI—After building Professional Hearing Services into one of the leading private audiology practices in the country, Gyl Kasewurm, AuD, is taking it on the road. Starting this month, the innovative audiologist will be using a Mobile Audiology Center to provide under-served populations in rural southwestern Michigan with the same caliber of hearing services that

RESTON, VA—Jennifer Brooke Shinn, PhD, a member of the American Academy of Audiology’s board of directors, will soon join the organization’s staff. Effective February 1, Shinn will become senior research specialist. In this capacity, she will become the primary advocate for the academy and audiology researchers among research agencies. She will also write the conference grant for the academy’s annual

CAMBRIDGE, MA—As long as people have been using hearing aids, replacing the batteries has been part of the drill. However, someday—though no time soon—people may power their own hearing devices, at least implantable ones. How can that be? Well, people and other mammals have a natural battery located inside the cochlea. It’s a chamber filled with ions that produce electricity