Hear In Private Practice

Earl Harford, Ph.D. died September 24, 2016 at his home in Tucson, Arizona.  Dr. Harford was well known for his professional and academic career in Audiology which began at McGill University. He then spent seventeen years at Northwest­ern University where he taught, mentored, and published with luminaries in our profession including Raymond Carhart, Jim Jerger, Bill Rintelmann, Fred Bess, Joe

by Mike Metz, PhD   Consider the success of the “Big Box” sales of hearing aids. Costco alone has become the second largest dispensing entity of hearing instruments in the US, and just lowered the cost of their premium Kirkland 7.0 instruments.  What do you suppose is their return-for-credit rate?  No matter which of the three possibilities—better, less, or the

By Mara Brugés Polo – Editor-in-Chief of Audio Infos Latin America Recent years have seen the country of Peru taking steps towards increasingly better care of its hearing loss patients, with not only the government making an effort, but private firms also launching their ideas to treat hypoacusic cases. Although Peru passed its universal neonatal screening programme law in 2012,

By Steve Eagon, MA Given the work I do, I frequently interact with and train hearing professionals on a variety of practice management issues. A hot topic among many these days is the changing consumer dynamic over the past 5-10 years. When I ask professionals what they notice about today’s mature consumer, it usually centers around a few key observations. They are

By Chelle Wyatt   At a recent meeting of my local chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), Susan Naidu, an audiologist at the University of Utah, spoke about auditory fatigue, also called listener fatigue or cognitive energy fatigue. According to Susan, this “real condition is not discussed or researched enough.” It isn’t clinically recognized but many professionals

by Mike Metz   Remember the theories of trickle-down economics from some of those old time politicians of 30-40 years ago?  Did anyone every figure out what was wrong about these ideas?  How much trickled down?  Are there lessons that can be mined from these theories? A friend of mine constantly tells me that we should sue our graduate programs

  By Mara Brugés Polo   Is vertigo properly diagnosed? During Colombia’s Otology Week in Bogotá, a workshop was held on vestibular disorders with a practical approach. Mexican otorhinolaryngologist Jorge Madrigal, founder and medical director of the MedBalanZ Clinic, directed this session and explained the physiological foundations and the technique involved in the vHIT (Video Head Impulse Test), which consists of

  By Kathi Mestayer   Wait your turn!   It’s second nature at the bank drive-thru, the gas station, the ski lift, the doctor’s office. And a mixed blessing. Some people, like me, really hate waiting in line and have to take deep breaths and make a concerted effort to entertain ourselves.  In contrast, the people in line at Starbucks

  by Mike Metz   Over the years, I have never failed to pay malpractice premiums.  I have used a national company for their protection for many decades.  Probably due a little to luck, I have never been involved any legal action that required me to defend my professional actions.  But I have been hired to participate in legal actions

Editor’s Note: Today’s post concludes the discussion by Abigail Farmer and Bruno Sarda on the evolution of hearing aid technology.   Finally, we should take a lesson from the War Production Board, who chose to standardize all battery sizes, and create common standards for power and connectivity. By freeing hearing aids—or, as Wayne Staab calls them, “hearables”1—from proprietary technology unique to