Hearing News Watch

  ERLANGEN, GERMANY/DUBLIN–Last week was a busy one in the hearing industry’s merger and acquisition front. On March 26, the Sivantos Group (formerly Siemens Audiology Solutions) announced that it would take over all shares in audibene, as part of a strategic partnership and investment agreement with Europe’s largest Internet portal for hearing care case management.The next day, Medtronic, Inc., the

By David H. Kirkwood For the first few days of their mission to Venezuela everything was going smoothly for Arlynn Hefta, a hearing aid specialist from North Dakota, and the three other volunteers from Bethel Evangelical Free Church in Devils’s Lake, ND. This was the 62-year-old Hefta’s eighth mission to Venezuela, so when he and his fellow volunteers—Russ Petty, MD,

  Frank E. Musiek, PhD, a renowned expert in electrophysiology and central auditory processing disorders (CAPD) who oversees the Pathways section of the blog Hearing Health & Technology (HHTM), has been selected by the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) to chair the 2016 Academy Research Conference (ARC) to be held in Phoenix on April 12, just prior to the opening of

By David H. Kirkwood Two veteran New York Police Department (NYPD) officers’ 5-year legal battle to return to active duty wearing their hearing aids ended in victory on March 9 when they agreed to a settlement of the suit they had filed against the City of New York in 2010. It was a victory not only for Dan Carione and Sgt.

    NEW YORK—Customers with hearing loss will soon be able to communicate better with pharmacists at the 101 Kinney Drugs stores in New York State.   Under an agreement announced March 12 by NYS Attorney-General Eric Schneiderman, each Kinney Drugs store will provide assistive listening systems and qualified sign-language interpreters, as required by law. In addition, KPH Healthcare Services,

      WASHINGTON, DC—The announcement of the first Unison Hearing Health Global Summit was the biggest story to emerge from the 2015 annual meeting of the Hearing Industries Association (HIA) on March 6, but not the only news. The national trade association of manufacturers of hearing aids and related products elected Scott Davis as chairman of the Board. Davis,

    By David H. Kirkwood WASHINGTON, DC—The International Hearing Society (IHS) and the Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA) will join forces, under the umbrella of the Hearing Healthcare Education Coalition (HHEC), to hold the inaugural Unison Hearing Health Global Summit September 8-11, 2016, in Chicago. Unison, which starting next year will take the place of the two professional

WASHINGTON, DC—When the Hearing Industries Association (HIA) holds both its biennial Hearing on the Hill and its annual meeting here this week, the trade association will be focused on passage of the Hearing Aid Tax Credit bill (S. 315). Although similar legislation introduced in the past several sessions of Congress has never been enacted despite broad support from hearing health

      STÄFA, SWITZERLAND—Sonova Holding AG, the world’s largest hearing aid manufacturer, announced today (March 2) that it will acquire three German hearing aid companies: Hansaton Akustik GmBH, which is a family-run hearing aid wholesaler, and two retail chains, Vitakustik GmbH and Fiebing Hörtechnik GmbH. The purchase prices were not disclosed.     Sonova, which owns Phonak, Unitron, and

RESTON, VA—American Academy of Audiology (AAA) members have elected a future president and three new members of the board of directors, all four of whom practice audiology in medical centers. In month-long voting that concluded on February 17, Ian M. Windmill, PhD, who is clinical director in the Division of Audiology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, was chosen to