Hearing News Watch

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON — Sound Pharmaceuticals, a Seattle-based biotech firm, announced this week that it has hired two senior executives. Paul Hoskins, appointed to the position of Senior Director of Clinical Operations and G. Michael Wall, appointed to the position of Senior Director of Pharmaceutical Development. The new executives join the company with substantial backgrounds in the pharmaceutical industry. Sound Pharmaceuticals hopes that the new additions will help

DETROIT, MICHIGAN — The Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA), in a press release late last week, announced that it had filed a lawsuit against the International Hearing Society (IHS) regarding the Tinnitus Care Provider Certificate. The lawsuit was filed in Detroit, near IHS headquarters in Livonia, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. As previously reported at

BEIJING, CHINA — Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi announced this week that its latest phone, the MIX, will be the first to incorporate ultrasound software for proximity detection. By replacing the phone’s hardware proximity sensor with ultrasound software, the phone’s speaker can become “completely invisible” and allow the entire surface of the screen to be functional — all the way to the top edge of the

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL — Humavox, an Israeli-based startup, announced that it will be partnering with Starkey Hearing Technologies to bring wireless charging capability to the next generation of hearing devices. Integrating the wireless charging technology into Starkey’s devices will allow hearing aid users to simply “drop” their devices into the charging case to recharge, regardless of orientation in the case. The charging technology developed by

UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS — If a child’s first ear infection occurs at a young age, particularly before 9 months, the chances for recurrent acute otitis media (AOM) infection are increased, according to a new Dutch study. The findings were published last month in the Journal of Pediatrics.    Identifying Children at Risk for Recurrent AOM   Dutch children enrolled in the Wheezing-Illnesses-STudy-LEidsche-Rijn (WHISTLER)

Whatever one thinks of the PCAST and NASEM recommendations to improve access & affordability for consumers, as well as any looming changes to current FDA hearing aid regulations that could impact professionals, the emerging hearable technology market continues to garner a great deal of press. Since Apple introduced their $159 per pair AirPods, expected to go on sale later this

SASKATCHEWAN PROVINCE, CANADA — Patient wait times to see an audiologist are about to get even longer for residents in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.  Two audiologists, one in Saskatoon and another in Prince Albert, were among the 70 positions terminated by the Saskatoon Health Region last month in order to balance its budget.  The two audiologists that lost their jobs worked

LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS — GN Group’s headset division, GN Audio (formerly GN Netcom), announced today that it has acquired the VXi Corporation for $35 million USD. VXi is the manufacturer of both the VXi and BlueParrott headset brands. VXi Corporation has shown substantial growth over the past decade, and last year reported annual revenue of $32 million USD. The acquisition of US-based VXi will provide GN Audio

WARSAW, POLAND — Danish hearing aid maker, William Demant Group, announced the opening of its new Demant Technology Centre in Poland. The new facility will house the company’s software Research and Development (R&D) division. The location in the new Q22 office building in Warsaw will also house other Demant companies, such as Oticon’s Polish subsidiary, Oticon Polska. The announcement of the new R&D division in Poland comes approximately one month

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — According to a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, infants born to women with hearing loss were significantly more likely to be premature and have low birth weight. This was the key finding in what is thought to be a first examination of the pregnancy outcomes among women with hearing loss in the U.S.