Hearing News Watch

Dennis Van Vliet, AuD, whose award-winning monthly column, The Final Word, has appeared in The Hearing Journal (HJ) since 1996, is moving to The Hearing Review (HR). His first column at HR will appear in the May issue, according to an announcement by that publication. Van Vliet, who for many years owned and operated a private practice in California, is

MUMBAI, INDIA—Field trials are under way in India of a hearing aid that will cost less than 3000 rupees–under $60 U.S.–to manufacture. In an interview with the news agency Press Trust of India, Ajay Kumar, an official at the Department of Information Technology, said that the Mumbai-based Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has developed programmable devices that will

LAS VEGAS—Three hearing care products were honored by the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is being held in Las Vegas this week. The miniTek® wireless remote streamer for hearing instruments from Siemens Hearing Instruments, Inc., received both the Best of CES and the Fan Favorite Awards in the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). Among the 10 finalists, miniTek was recognized

For decades, manufacturers and retailers have been promoting ear candles as an effective way to remove cerumen from the ear canal. This alternative medicine practice involves lighting one end of a hollow candle and placing the other end in the ear. Proponents say that the flame creates negative pressure, which sucks the heat-softened wax and other debris out of the

Buoyed by a relatively strong fourth quarter, the U.S. hearing aid market ended 2011 with an increase in unit sales of 2.96% over 2010, according to the latest quarterly statistical report from the Hearing Industries Association (HIA). The 2,766,301 hearing aids sold last year by manufacturers to hearing care professionals marked the highest annual total ever, 79,349 more than the

MINNEAPOLIS–Starkey Laboratories, Inc., capped a week full of news-making innovations by announcing yesterday (January 10) that it had changed its name. America’s largest manufacturer of hearing aids and developer of other hearing technology is now Starkey Hearing Technologies. In announcing the 45-year-old company’s new name, Starkey president Jerry Ruzicka said, “Over the past decade, we have gone from a manufacturing

By K. Ray Katz LAS VEGAS–Starkey Laboratories, America’s largest hearing aid manufacturer, held its first-ever Hearing Innovation Expo January 4-7 at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino. Approximately 3000 Starkey customers from 27 countries gathered in Las Vegas for this unprecedented event. They were offered over 7 hours of informational sessions a day on a wide range of subjects of importance

HOUSTON–Continental Airlines has become the first airline to provide passengers with closed captioning for live television broadcasting on some of its aircraft. The closed captioning will help passengers with hearing loss enjoy in-flight entertainment, including over 100 channels of DIRECTV-provided satellite television. This enhancement will be offered initially on all LTV3-equipped Boeing 737NG planes operated by Continental. The closed captioning

PORTLAND, OR—It has recently been established that hearing loss commonly accompanies diabetes. In fact, those with the disease are twice as likely to have a hearing impairment as are non-diabetics. However, information about the strong link between diabetes and hearing loss is not yet widely known to the public. That’s why when the American Diabetes Association holds an Expo on February

MINNETONKA, MN–Jerry L. Yanz, PhD, an audiologist who has held prominent positions with hearing aid manufacturers, has been appointed vice-president of hearing health at hi HealthInnovations™, a UnitedHealth Group  company. Yanz, who most recently was director of audiology at Hansaton-US, will lead a team of hearing health professionals in implementing the introduction of hi HealthInnovations’ new line of hearing products that