Hearing News Watch

ATLANTA–A year after the Georgia State Legislature repealed legislation that had exempted hearing aids from sales tax, Governor Nathan Deal signed a bill that immediately reinstated the tax exemption. The new bill also applied to some other medical devices and medications. Helping galvanize support for restoring the tax exemption for hearing aids was the Georgia Society of Hearing Professionals. The

CHICAGO—The Journal of the American Academy of Audiology announced its Editor’s Awards during AudiologyNOW! 2011, held here in April. The honors, which recognize members of the JAAA editorial board for outstanding contributions to the peer review of the journal, went to Holly Hosford-Dunn, PhD, and David A. Preves, PhD. Preves, who in 2009 received AAA’s Samuel F. Lybarger Award for

WASHINGTON, DC–With a pair of hearing aids costing anywhere from $2000 to $7000, it’s no wonder that many hearing-impaired people feel they can’t afford them. That’s why AARP Bulletin asked Cathie Gandel to write about how to get a good buy on hearing aids. The article, which appeared in the May 1 issue (go to www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-05-2011/paying-for-hearing-aids.html for the full article),

OTTAWA–When it comes to providing its citizens with healthcare coverage, Canada has generally gone far beyond the United States. For example, its publicly funded health system ensures that all Canadians have access to free medical care. However, universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS), which  the U.S. introduced more than a decade ago, does not yet exist in most of its northern

WASHINGTON, DC–Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Olympia Snowe  (R-ME) reintroduced Hearing Aid Tax Credit bill (S. 905) on May 5, with eight original co-sponsors. Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) introduced a companion bill (H.R. 1479) in the House of Representatives in April. The Senate bill is unchanged from legislation in the 111th Congress, which attracted a

BRANCHBURG, NJ–At a time when the unemployment rate is unusually high, people with hearing loss are finding it especially difficult to find jobs. To help out, Bridges to Employment, a division of Alternatives, Inc., will host its 2011 Communication Expo this Saturday, May 7, at Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg. The goal of this annual event is to raise

WASHINGTON, DC–The Better Hearing Institute (BHI) has unveiled its latest consumer e-Guide, Your Guide to Care and Maintenance of Hearing Aids. Authored by Drs. Ron Schow and Jeff Brockett, the comprehensive, 26-page e-Guide covers topics such as batteries, ear wax, ear mold/venting issues, moisture corrosion and intermittence, telephone use, feedback, static/noise, and prevention. The information is available on both the

CHICAGO–Hearing professionals have long been cautioning their patients not to use Q-tips or other small items  to clean their ear canals. Now a study by Henry Ford Hospital shows that their advice was well-founded.  The study, which was presented April 29 at the Combined Otolaryngology Spring Meeting in Chicago, found a direct association between the use of cotton swabs and

FOREST GROVE, OR—For more than a decade, there has been no place in Oregon where a prospective audiologist could get training in the field of her (or his) choice. That will change in fall 2012 when Pacific University’s College of Health Professions will begin training future audiologists through a clinical doctorate degree program (AuD) Ann Barr, vice-provost and executive dean

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK–While National Football League owners shut players out of training camps this spring, that doesn’t mean the professional gridders have been idle. Last month, a group of them spent a week in Rwanda and Uganda helping provide hearing aids to children in need. Their humanitarian trip was a project of Pros for Africa (PFA), a non-profit relief organization