Hearing News Watch

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

PORTLAND, OR–As readers will undoubtedly recall, a few months ago HearingHealthMatters.org joined about 50,000 other print, broadcast, and online media around the world in writing about the most reported—really over-reported—story of 2012 related to hearing. What was it? The $9.32 million lawsuit brought by a concertgoer against the 18-year-old pop star Justin Bieber. The plaintiff, Stacey Wilson Betts, of Wilsonville,

LONDON—The Hear the World Foundation has set a Guinness World Record for staging the world’s largest photographic awareness campaign. Since 2006 when Sonova, parent company of the world’s largest hearing aid manufacturing group, created the foundation, scores of international celebrities have served as ambassadors. Each has been photographed in the campaign’s signature pose—with a hand cupped behind one ear–symbolizing conscious hearing.

SAN DIEGO–Robert L. Martin, PhD, whose lively, down-to-earth articles have been informing, encouraging, and entertaining hearing care professionals for nearly a quarter-century, has joined HearingHealthMatters.org. Starting today (November 28), Bob Martin will be writing a bi-weekly post on theHearing Health blog, where he will be co-editor with Judy Huch, AuD. From 1989 through this year, Dr. Martin’s Nuts & Bolts column

MANCHESTER, UK–Douglas Beck, AuD, a prominent American audiologist, received the 2012 Jos Millar Shield from the British Academy of Audiology (BAA). The long-standing award is presented annually to the person who has submitted the best article for a BAA publication in the previous year. Beck won for his article “What – I Didn’t Know That!,” which was published in the

HARRISONBURG, VA–Andrea Liuzzo, a doctor of audiology student at James Madison University (JMU), is the 2012 recipient of the Roger Ruth Memorial Fund Student Research Award. It was presented to her at a special ceremony last month at the Ruth Symposium. The award was created in 2009 in memory of Dr. Roger Ruth, PhD, for his tireless efforts to promote

RESTON, VA—A study commissioned by the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) has found that giving Medicare beneficiaries direct access to audiologists would save Medicare about $240 million over 10 years. In a message e-mailed to AAA members on November 7, Deborah L. Carlson, PhD, president of the academy said, “This compelling and comprehensive study shows what the academy has purported