Innovations In Hearing

Featured image for “Customizing Audibility Using Selective Amplification Principles – Who Does the Selecting Matters”
Apr. 11, 2022

Customizing Audibility Using Selective Amplification Principles – Who Does the Selecting Matters

HHTM
By Brian Taylor, AuD, Editor-at-Large A few months ago, in the most recent edition of Signal and Noise, I outlined the value of customizing ear coupling by following the advice of Margaret (Margo) Skinner. The basic message was the clinician’s ability to customize earmold plumbing is likely to result in higher levels of patient benefit. Additionally, the ability to customize
Featured image for “Readers’ Choice 2021: Don’t Forget Assistive Listening Devices – They’re Not What They Used to Be”
Dec. 27, 2021

Readers’ Choice 2021: Don’t Forget Assistive Listening Devices – They’re Not What They Used to Be

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
Dear Readers: During this holiday season, the editors at Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) are taking some time off. However, we are not leaving you without anything to read on our blog this week. Instead, we are publishing a special holiday edition filled with what we call our Readers’ Choices. Our Readers’ Choices featured this week are the posts
Featured image for “Customized RIC Coupling: Don’t Roll the Dice, Follow the Sage Guidance of Margo Skinner”
Nov. 21, 2021

Customized RIC Coupling: Don’t Roll the Dice, Follow the Sage Guidance of Margo Skinner

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
By Brian Taylor, AuD, Editor-at-Large In Chapter 9 of the Studebacher and Hochberg textbook Acoustical Factors Affecting Hearing Aid Performance (second edition), esteemed professor, Margo Skinner1, wrote, “Before any hearing aid evaluation, it is essential to optimize the coupling of a hearing aid to the ear.”  Published in 1993 during the seminal days of prescriptive fitting methods – – an
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Sep. 21, 2021

Doing TeleHealth? ProJECT!!

Paul Teie
I recently had a remote appointment with one of my specialist MDs.  Since I am involved in training for our Remote Care initiative, I paid close attention.  I really like this doctor.  He has always impressed me in-person with his compassion, personableness, expertise and care.  Online, not so much.  His hair was a little mussed, the camera was fuzzy, his
Featured image for “To Boost Outcomes for Hearing Aid Wearers, the Profession Should Commit to Telehealth Services”
Sep. 12, 2021

To Boost Outcomes for Hearing Aid Wearers, the Profession Should Commit to Telehealth Services

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
By Brian Taylor, AuD, Editor-at-Large It should concern every hearing care professional (HCP) that anywhere from 5 percent to one-quarter of patients never use their hearing aids. Or that by some accounts, an astounding 98 percent of hearing aid owners say they had at least one problem with their hearing aids in the first year. Or that 54 percent of
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Jul. 07, 2021

Needs Assessment: The Most Important Component of the Hearing Aid Evaluation

Paul Teie
Some blanket statements: Nobody ever obtained hearing aids because of the hearing test. The most important component of the hearing aid evaluation is the needs assessment.  Absolutes can be tricky. There is always an exception to an absolute. (There’s another absolute right there.)  Hyperbole!!  “A rhetorical formulation of exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.” But these
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Jun. 28, 2021

A Case for More Perception in Fitting Hearing Aids

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
In the beginning was the audiogram. Such a sentence could easily open the unwritten history of hearing aid fitting. And there would be a strong reason for beginning so. The strategy of deriving the prescription from hearing thresholds was a sensible way of adjusting dynamic compression. It ensured audibility, and the mapping of loudness required in the old days only
Jun. 20, 2021

Communication by Ear? New ‘Earswitch’ Technology Offers Hope to People with ALS, Other Neurological Conditions

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
Editor’s Note: A new ear-level device being developed by a UK primary care physician, along with a team of researchers at Bath University, is providing hope for people with neurological conditions that are unable speak or operate a keyboard, with new ways of communicating via a computer. HHTM President and CEO, Kevin Liebe, recently connected with Dr. Nick Gompertz, Director
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Jun. 18, 2021

Response to an Ignorant Argument: The True Value of Hearing Aids

Hearing Health & Technology Matters
I have a confession to make.  Many years ago I was having a particularly bad day (perhaps someone took my green Phonak screwdriver) and a patient said to me, “I don’t understand why hearing aids cost so much.  It can’t cost more than $100 to make them.”  I think the first words out of my mouth were, “You are smarter
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May. 03, 2021

What I Listen for In an Interview

Paul Teie
In my job I have the opportunity to conduct many interviews with prospective hearing care providers. These interviews typically cover clinical and sales/counseling topics. Most of the time it is a pleasant experience during which we have a conversation that is stimulating, perhaps I learn something, and there is give and take.  As a trainer (teacher), if the interview is