Hearing News Watch

LOS ANGELES–Paul Dybala, PhD, a pioneer in making the Internet a useful tool for audiologists and for persons with hearing loss, has been appointed president  of HealthyHearing.com, an online provider of information on hearing loss and hearing care in the U.S. Dybala will be in charge of the overall strategic vision and focus of the web site. Dybala will remain

Revised April 4, 2013 COPENHAGEN—William Demant Holding, parent company of Oticon, announced today that it has signed an agreement to take over 100% of Neurelec SA, a French man
ufacturer of cochlear implants, at a cost of 57.5 million Euros, or about $74 million U.S. With the acquisition, Demant has joined its archrival, Sonova, as being the only hearing aid companies

WASHINGTON, DC—For a baseball fan like Jacob Landis, opening week of the season is always a big deal. But this year will be extra-special, as the 24-year-old pizza baker from Annapolis, MD, will be part of the action. Starting tomorrow, April 3, at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., Landis will set off on a nearly 6-month, 10,000-mile bicycle odyssey that

  SEATTLE—Two people who have overcome hearing loss have been brought together by their commitment to helping others to do the same. One of these is Paige Stringer, founder and executive director of the Seattle-based Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss. She was announced last week as winner of the Phonak Healthy Hearing Contest. Born profoundly hard of hearing, Stringer

ANAHEIM, CA—Many thousands of audiologists, audiology students, and exhibitors will congregate here next week in this Orange County city best known as the home of Disneyland. It’s not Mickey Mouse or Frontierland that is drawing them, but rather AudiologyNOW! 2013, which is also the American Academy of Audiology’s 25th Annual Convention. Every year, AudiologyNOW! is the world’s largest gathering of

CAMBRIDGE, MA—About a year ago, Lantos Technologies Inc. of Cambridge crossed the Charles River to introduce its much-heralded 3D Intra-Aural Digital Scanner at the Hearing Solutions exhibition of the American Academy of Audiology Convention in Boston. The company said that its scanner used patented dual-wavelength algorithm technology that provided “the first platform capable of measuring direct ear scans as well

By David H. Kirkwood WASHINGTON, DC–Contending that the increasing number of U.S. veterans with hearing problems has outstripped the ability of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to meet their needs effectively, the International Hearing society (IHS) has launched a campaign to make hearing aid specialists eligible to provide to veterans with hearing evaluations and hearing aid services. Under current

SALT LAKE CITY—The Utah Legislature stands on the verge of making hearing aids available free to low-income children in that state who do not qualify for Medicaid or for the Utah Children’s Health Insurance Program. On March 13, the Senate voted unanimously to establish an advisory committee in the Utah Department of Health that would be responsible for screening individuals

BEIJING–As was reported on this blog last week, WHO (the World Health Organization) estimates that there are 360 million people in the world with disabling hearing loss. Undoubtedly, a large percentage of them are in China, whose population of 1.35 billion is the largest of any nation and nearly a fifth of the entire human population. What’s more, the rate

SCOTTSDALE, AZ—The American Auditory Society (AAS) held its 40th annual Scientific and Technology Meeting here March 7-9. Since its founding in 1973, AAS has pursued the goal of increasing knowledge and understanding of the ear, hearing, and balance; disorders of the ear, hearing, and balance, and preventions of these disorders; and habilitation and rehabilitation of individuals with hearing and balance