Hearing News Watch

By David H. Kirkwood LOS ANGELES–If you are among those who rushed out this month to get the new iPhone 5, the Apple App Store offers you more than 450,000 different apps to choose from in deciding which ones to download onto your iPhone.  One of the newest—and most unusual—is the Better Hearing app, which, according to The Good Ear

MUNICH, GERMANY/BOULDER, CO–Ever since wearable hearing aids were introduced 70 years or so ago, they have been marketed as “discreet,” the “smallest ever,” and, more recently, “invisible in the ear.” That’s because consumers don’t want others to know they’re wearing hearing aids—or so manufacturers and dispensers believe. Of course, that’s not true of everyone with hearing loss. Kids have been

By David H. Kirkwood LAKE TAHOE, CA—In an unprecedented development in the hearing industry, the world’s six largest manufacturers of hearing aids have joined together to establish the Hearing Industry Research Consortium (IRC). GN ReSound, Oticon, Phonak, Siemens Hearing Solutions, Starkey Hearing Technologies, and Widex formed the consortium to develop and direct a non-competitive, mutually agreed upon research agenda for

RESTON, VA—The American Academy of Audiology (AAA) will be moving into new and larger offices this fall. After a decade in its present location at 11730 Plaza America Drive in Reston, VA, the organization will open its new headquarters about two miles away at 11480 Commerce Park Drive, Suite 220, also in Reston. This will be the sixth home for

MINNETONKA, MN– UnitedHealth Group Inc. announced last week that its direct-to-consumer offering of less expensive hearing aids has been extended to 26 million people covered by employer-sponsored and individual health insurance plans through UnitedHealthcare. The original program, unveiled 11 months ago, made the discounted hearing aids available only to people in Medicare-based plans. The hearing aids, which are priced as

KAMPALA, UGANDA–The work of the Starkey Hearing Foundation received nationwide attention Monday evening, August 27, when a story about a mission to Uganda was featured on the NBC News. What made NBC pick the topic? Well, it probably didn’t hurt that the special correspondent who reported the story was Chelsea Clinton. And, as it happens, her father, Bill, has been

By David H. Kirkwood HILLSBORO, OR—The first new university audiology program in the United States in more than a decade will open its doors next week at Pacific University. The Pacific School of Audiology, located on its Hillsboro campus, will be the only one in Oregon and one of only three programs on the West Coast that offer the doctor

By David H. Kirkwood ELKINS PARK PA—While Pacific University is about to launch an entirely new AuD program in Oregon (see the preceding post on Hearing News Watch), the Osborne College of Audiology at Salus University has resumed its distance-education activities and started an “international AuD-Bridge degree program” that will enable master’s degree audiologists and audiology physicians to obtain a

WASHINGTON, DC–The Better Hearing Institute (BHI) has published a free online eGuide to help address the escalating problem of hearing loss. The new 12-page e-guide, which debuted on August 23, explains to consumers how noise contributes to hearing loss and tinnitus and how to prevent noise-induced hearing loss. Individuals and employers are invited to download copies of Your Guide to Prevention

MADISON, WI—Rayovac, the world’s largest manufacturer of hearing aid batteries, will invest millions of additional dollars in research and development and to expand its manufacturing plants, its parent company, Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc., announced on August 23. According to Spectrum Brands, the additional investment will support product enhancements and new cell manufacturing and packaging lines, and will ensure that Rayovac’s