Hearing News Watch

By David H. Kirkwood WASHINGTON, DC—The Hearing Industries Association (HIA) has called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start enforcing its regulations governing hearing aids, even when the devices are ostensibly “personal sound amplification devices” or PSAPs. In an April 19 letter to Steven Silverman, director of the Office of Compliance at FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological

SALT LAKE CITY—Every year, hearing aids get smaller and less conspicuous. Indeed, several manufacturers are now marketing devices that they categorize as IIEs, invisible-in-the-ear hearing aids. Now, it appears, cochlear implants may also be on the path to invisibility. In current systems, the microphone, speech processor, and radio transmitter coil must be worn outside the head because they are too

By David H. Kirkwood hi HealthInnovations, which recently removed a controversial online hearing test from its web site after receiving a strong warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (see our April 18 issue), hopes to resume offering that option to consumers soon. So stated Will Shanley, the director of public relations for hi HealthInnovations’ parent company, UnitedHealthcare, in a

WASHINGTON, DC–May is Better Hearing Month, a great time for hearing professionals to spread awareness in their communities of the importance of hearing one’s best. And, when it comes to accurate and useful information on hearing, how to protect it, and how to address hearing loss, there’s no better source than the Better Hearing Institute (BHI). BHI is a not-for-profit

CARY, NC—An organization that has been providing emotional support and information to families with deaf or hard-of-hearing children will receive this year’s Volta Award from the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell). BEGINNINGS for Parents of Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in North Carolina will receive the prestigious honor on

Hearing aid manufacturers posted solid gains in unit sales during the first quarter of 2012, according to the Hearing Industries Association’s latest quarterly statistical report. Manufacturers reported total net U.S. sales of 724,128 hearing aids, 5.3% more than in the first quarter of 2011. The year-to-year gain was the largest for any first quarter since 2006. While one strong quarter

By David H. Kirkwood  SILVER SPRING, MD–The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has thrown a monkey wrench into hi HealthInnovations’ controversial new online program to test consumers’ hearing and sell them custom-fitted hearing aids without any involvement by licensed hearing healthcare professionals. In a letter dated March 28, 2012, Steven Silverman, director of the Office of Compliance at FDA’s Center

For many years, people who follow the hearing industry have known that ear scanning technology would eventually make the taking of ear impressions for custom hearing aids obsolete. In 2010, Holly Hosford-Dunn wrote about the work that Lantos Technologies was doing in this area. She subsequently updated her article for a post on her Hearing Economics blog. And, as she

CARLSBAD, CA—Audiology is rated as the sixth best career for 2012, according to an article published last week in The Wall Street Journal (April 11, page B6). The annual ranking of America’s 200 best (and worst) occupations was compiled by the California-based CareerCast.com. This year’s list promoted audiology three notches from the ninth spot in CareerCast’s 2011 report. What makes

TUCSON, AZ—Hearinghealthmatters.org marked its first anniversary this week with the announcement of a new blogger and a new blog section. Readers will also note that the blog’s home page has been newly redesigned to be more attractive and make the site easier to navigate. Christine Diles, AuD, a veteran private-practice audiologist, will write her first post in the April 18