Hearing News Watch

FORT MYERS, FL—A U.S. District Court jury in Fort Myers found on June 23 that 7-Eleven had violated the Florida Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act in firing Jim Soliday, a long-time employee who is deaf, rather than reasonably accommodate his disability. The jury awarded the 58-year-old Naples, FL, resident $178,000 for lost wages and benefits and

PISCATAWAY, NJ—A survey of 500 hearing aid wearers, conducted by Siemens Hearing Instruments, Inc., showed that many of them want more robust products that can better hold up during swimming and other activities that they want to enjoy without giving up their ability to communicate. According to the study, hearing-impaired Americans want to lead a more vibrant daily life, but

SOMERSET, NJ–The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Oticon Medical 510(k) clearance to market a bone-anchored power processor called Ponto Pro Power. In announcing the FDA approval on June 27, Oticon Medical said that the new device will benefit adults and children with severe hearing loss due to malfunctioning of the ear canal or middle ear (conductive or

  SAN DIEGO—A meta-analysis of 11 studies has found a strong correlation between diabetes and hearing loss. A group of Japanese researchers reported that people with hearing loss are about 50% more likely to have diabetes than an otherwise comparable population with normal hearing. The scientists presented their findings on June 23 at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting in

RESTON, VA–The American Medical Association (AMA) announced on June 23 that it has selected the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) to serve on its Current Procedural Terminology/Health Care Professionals Advisory Committee. The CPT/HCPAC is a panel of specialty societies charged with facilitating the review and development of applications for CPT codes used by qualified non-physician health care professionals. AMA’s decision

BOSTON–If her great grand uncle were “only” America’s greatest inventor, there would still be plenty of interest in Sarah Miller Caldicott’s keynote address at the 2011 International Hearing Society (IHS) Convention. However, what makes Ms. Caldicott such a fitting choice to speak to the hundreds of hearing professionals who will be gathered in Boston on September 15 is that her

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL–The assets of Hear USA, one of the nation’s largest networks of hearing aid dispensing practices, will go up for bids in an auction to be       held in the Fort Lauderdale offices of the law firm Berger Singerman P.A. HearUSA, which is based in West Palm Beach, filed under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code on May

PARIS–Sanofi, a major global pharmaceutical company, announced June 16 a 2-year research collaboration with Audion Therapeutics to develop potential treatments for hearing loss through a regenerative medicine approach. Sanofi <www.sanofi.com>, which is based in Paris, and the Dutch company Audion will use technology that Dr. Albert Edge developed at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary’s Eaton-Peabody Laboratory in Boston. Edge, a co-founder

LIVONIA, MI—The International Hearing Society (IHS) has a new face in the nation’s capital. She is Alissa Parady, the organization’s recently named government affairs manager. Because she operates out of  Washington, Parady will be positioned to enhance IHS’s relations with DC-based consumer, industry, and government organizations. In announcing this addition to IHS’s government affairs program, Alan Lowell, BC-HIS, ACA, the

VANCOUVER, BC–The hearing aid market in China and India, now valued at over $1 billion, will nearly double by 2017, according to a new report by iData Research (www.idataresearch.net). The Canadian-based authority on the global medical device market includes both retail and wholesale sales in its figures. There is plenty of room for growth, says iData’s analyst manager, Douglas Fung,