Hearing News Watch

INDIANAPOLIS–Tamika Catchings became the latest in a long line of great athletes who didn’t let hearing loss stop them from reaching the pinnacle of their profession. On September 22, the star forward of the Indiana Fever was named the 2011 Most Valuable Player in the Woman’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). For Catchings, who was born with a binaural hearing loss,

This is a revised version of the item first posted on September 26. PITTSBURGH—Karen Piper, an English professor at the University of Missouri, has sued the City of Pittsburgh, claiming that its police department’s improper use of of a crowd-dispersal tool has caused her permanent hearing loss and other damage to her ears. Piper, who brought the case in Federal

BONITA SPRINGS, FL—Sign up early to “rock the boat” is the message being sent out to audiologists by the Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA). ADA is talking about its 2011 Convention, being held November 3-5 at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort in Bonita Springs. This year’s theme is “Rock the Boat: How to Practice, Manage and Lead in

LOS ANGELES—A free service that can help millions of Americans with hearing loss communicate better long-distance was introduced September 22 at the AARP National Event & Expo. Sorenson Communications, a Salt Lake City-based company, announced the national launch of CaptionCall®, designed for anyone who has difficulty hearing on the telephone. Similar to captioned television, CaptionCall uses advanced voice-recognition technology and

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND–Wolfson Microelectronics has announced that it will buy Dynamic Hearing, an Australian software company that provides technology for hearing aids and other electronic products, for 3.3 million pounds (about $5 million) According to Wolfson, a Scottish-based company, it has been working with Dynamic Hearing for 18 months developing equipment to run on its Audio Hub products. Dynamic employs about

LOS ANGELES—MyWay™, a new digital hearing aid that will be sold directly to consumers, will be introduced September 22 at the AARP Life@50+ National Event and Expo in Los Angeles. Developed by Audiotoniq (www.audiotoniq.com), an Austin, Texas-based technology company, a pair of the MyWay behind-the-ear hearing aids will cost $1949. While the device isn’t expected to be available until December,

MOUNTAIN HOME, TN—The audiology staff at the James H. Quillen/Mountain Home VA Medical Center have received the National Veterans Health Administration Systems Redesign Champion Award. They were selected for the honor by the Under Secretary for Health for improving the efficiency of the Hearing Aid Evaluation Clinic without compromising the effectiveness of service delivery Prior to January 2010, the Hearing

WEST PALM BEACH, FL—The sale of HearUSA’s assets to Siemens Hearing Instruments, Inc., was completed on September 9. As reported in this blog on August 2, Siemens outbid William Demant, parent company of Oticon, for HearUSA, in an auction held after that company filed for bankruptcy last spring. To acquire the national network of hearing care practices, Siemens paid approximately

NEW YORK—The board of the Deafness Research Foundation announced September 14 that the organization has changed its name, effective immediately, to the Hearing Health Foundation (HHF). To signal the 53-year-old foundation’s unwavering dedication to hearing research, it unveiled a groundbreaking research consortium, the Hearing Restoration Project Clifford P. Tallman Jr., chair of the HHF board, said, “This is an exciting day

MINNEAPOLIS—Five outstanding future audiologists have been named William F. Austin Scholarship winners, and 10 others were honored as Outstanding Student Clinician. The Austin Scholars, who were selected from nearly 140 applicants, will receive up to $10,000 from Starkey Laboratories, Inc., to pursue their studies. The scholarships are named for the founder and principal owner of Starkey, the largest U.S. manufacturer