Hearing News Watch

This Hearing News Watch post was updated on August 6. BETHESDA, MD–Brenda Battat, who has been executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) since March 2008, announced last week that she will retire effective August 31, 2013. She has been with the organization since 1989, when it was known as Self Help for Hard of Hearing People

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA–Dalhousie University in Halifax has signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Ototronix, an American manufacturer of advanced hearing implant technologies, for a new hearing aid implant developed by three Dalhousie faculty members. For several years, Manohar Bance, professor and acting head of otolaryngology, and two assistant professors in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Jeremy Brown and Rob

This Hearing News Watch item was updated on August 6. TORONTO–Marshall Chasin, AuD, editor of the Hear the Music blog at Hearinghealthmatters.org, has been awarded the Canadian Governor General’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for Volunteer Services. This high honor recognizes the Toronto-based audiologist for his outstanding voluntary contributions to the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. The Jubilee Award was presented to

PHOENIX–Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced last week that his office reached a settlement with a national chain of movie theaters that will improve access for hard-of-hearing patrons in six theaters in that state. The agreement resolves a lawsuit that the state brought against Cinemark Holdings Inc., in June 2011. Cinemark, which is based in Plano, TX, will equip six

BETHESDA, MD–The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) has named Juliëtte Sterkens, AuD, as its new hearing loop advocate. Sterkens, an audiologist in private practice in Oshkosh, WI, has led a successful looping initiative in her community and the Greater Fox Valley area of Wisconsin, which has resulted in nearly 200 hearing loop installations. In her role as advocate, she

Joined by a dozen other Oticon employees, Rasmus Borsting, executive director, handed a giant check to Lisa Marie Arieno, regional director of the American Heart Association of Central New Jersey and Greater Union County.   SOMERSET, NJ–Oticon, Inc., presented a check for $10,000 to the American Heart Association (AHA) at a recent ceremony at its new U.S. headquarters. The donation

CHARLESTON, WV—While the $9 million suit against Justin Bieber for allegedly causing a woman to lose her hearing is getting a lot more attention (see this week’s Hearing View), a much less publicized case in West Virginia may have more serious implications for hearing care providers and consumers alike. As reported in The West Virginia Record, a legal journal, Daniel

Writing last week on Hearing Views, Sara Bloom, who covered the hearing aid industry from the early 1990s through 2010, made this observation: “The hearing care industry was flat for as long as I was writing about it. For all those 17 years, I would write that only about 25% of those who would benefit from hearing help did, in

JUNCTION, IL–How many audiologists are able to dunk a basketball? While a search of the Internet fails to yield an answer, the odds are that the number is in the single digits. However, if things go according to Andrew Drone’s plans, that number may rise by 1. The dunking part is easy for Drone, who is a 6-foot-11, 265-pound, second-team

SOUTHAMPTON, UK—In China, the world’s most populous country, an estimated 10% or more of its 1.35 billion people suffer from hearing loss.  Yet, only about 1% of them wear hearing aids. Despite the enormous growth in its economy, China remains largely a developing nation in which hearing care is a luxury available to only a small minority. However, the University