Hearing News Watch

WASHINGTON, DC–Approximately 75% of Americans age 50 and over view hearing as a very important or extremely important issue for them personally, according to a survey commissioned by AARP and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). The results of the survey, which was conducted in September by Crux Research, Inc., were released last week by the sponsoring organizations. The report published by

HARRISONBURG, VA–James Mason University has awarded the 2011 Roger Ruth Memorial Fund Student Research Awards to three graduate students in audiology at the university. The awards were created in memory of Dr. Roger Ruth, 1950–2009, for his tireless efforts to promote student research as an integral part of graduate education in audiology. This year’s recipients were Verleyne Andrews and Kristie

ORLANDO/TAMPA—A $1.1 million grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education will enable the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando and the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa to train speech-language pathologists to help deaf and hard-of-hearing children whose first language may not be English. Dr. Linda I. Rosa-Lugo, an associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences

MADISON, WI—C. Scot Frink, president of Salem [OR] Audiology Clinic, was named National Hearing Professional of the Year for 2011 on November 29 by Rayovac, the largest manufacturer of hearing aid batteries in the world. Last year, Frink was named Rayovac’s Pacific Northwest Hearing Professional of the Year. Also honored by Rayovac this year as regional Professionals of the Year

By David H. Kirkwood In the month since Hearing News Watch reported on the giant strides being made to “loop America,” the campaign to make induction loops as routine in public venues in this country as they are in parts of Europe has picked up new momentum. As a result, more and more people with telecoil-equipped hearing aids now have

OSAKA, JAPAN–Panasonic announced this week that it has developed a new method for determining a hearing aid wearer’s tolerance for loud sounds. The Japanese company, which last year began distributing hearing aids in the U.S. through the Panasonic Corporation of North America Healthcare, issued a press release on November 28 in which it described its innovative technology for fitting hearing

PORTLAND, OR—Many passengers have complained about the loud, sustained roar of a long plane flight. However, Kent J. Neilson, an Oregon man, decided to go beyond simply complaining. He filed a $2 million lawsuit against Delta Airlines,  charging that an April 28, 2010, flight from Minneapolis to Portland caused him to suffer permanent binaural hearing loss, as well as “disabling

By David H. Kirkwood BETHESDA, MD—America’s largest organization of hard-of-hearing consumers is offering encouragement to a controversial program that allows consumers to test their own hearing and purchase hearing aids directly without ever seeing a licensed hearing professional. Writing on the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) web site,  Brenda Battat, the executive director of the 32-year-old advocacy group, noted

BLOOMINGTON, MN–ReSound, one of the largest hearing aid manufacturers in the U.S., has appointed Kimberly Herman as its new president. Herman brings with her more than 20 years of experience in healthcare industry. However, unlike many presidents of hearing aid companies, she is a newcomer to the hearing industry. Prior to joining ReSound, Herman held positions as U.S. president of

By David H. Kirkwood The web this week is alive with the news that one in every five Americans has hearing loss, about double most previous estimates of its incidence. The source of these alarming reports is an article in the November 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.1 Written by a team of researchers led by Frank Lin, MD,