Hearing News Watch

ARDEN HILLS, MN—While a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has put a hitch, at least temporarily, in hi HealthInnovations’ (HI) online hearing testing and hearing aid dispensing program, the company that manufactures the devices for HI is thriving. IntriCon Corporation reported that its sales increased by 20% in the first quarter of 2012 over 2011. And,

Melissa K. Rodriguez, BC-HIS, who wrote the April 4 Hearing Views post at Hearinghealthmatters.org, is the author of the newly published book Hear Your Life: Inspiring Stories and Honest Advice for Overcoming Hearing Loss. Rodriguez, the daughter of a Beltone dispenser, obtained her license to fit hearing aids soon after graduating from high school, and earned her National Board Certification in 1995.

By David H. Kirkwood WASHINGTON, DC—The Hearing Industries Association (HIA) has called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to start enforcing its regulations governing hearing aids, even when the devices are ostensibly “personal sound amplification devices” or PSAPs. In an April 19 letter to Steven Silverman, director of the Office of Compliance at FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological

SALT LAKE CITY—Every year, hearing aids get smaller and less conspicuous. Indeed, several manufacturers are now marketing devices that they categorize as IIEs, invisible-in-the-ear hearing aids. Now, it appears, cochlear implants may also be on the path to invisibility. In current systems, the microphone, speech processor, and radio transmitter coil must be worn outside the head because they are too

By David H. Kirkwood hi HealthInnovations, which recently removed a controversial online hearing test from its web site after receiving a strong warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (see our April 18 issue), hopes to resume offering that option to consumers soon. So stated Will Shanley, the director of public relations for hi HealthInnovations’ parent company, UnitedHealthcare, in a

WASHINGTON, DC–May is Better Hearing Month, a great time for hearing professionals to spread awareness in their communities of the importance of hearing one’s best. And, when it comes to accurate and useful information on hearing, how to protect it, and how to address hearing loss, there’s no better source than the Better Hearing Institute (BHI). BHI is a not-for-profit

CARY, NC—An organization that has been providing emotional support and information to families with deaf or hard-of-hearing children will receive this year’s Volta Award from the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell). BEGINNINGS for Parents of Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in North Carolina will receive the prestigious honor on

Hearing aid manufacturers posted solid gains in unit sales during the first quarter of 2012, according to the Hearing Industries Association’s latest quarterly statistical report. Manufacturers reported total net U.S. sales of 724,128 hearing aids, 5.3% more than in the first quarter of 2011. The year-to-year gain was the largest for any first quarter since 2006. While one strong quarter

By David H. Kirkwood  SILVER SPRING, MD–The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has thrown a monkey wrench into hi HealthInnovations’ controversial new online program to test consumers’ hearing and sell them custom-fitted hearing aids without any involvement by licensed hearing healthcare professionals. In a letter dated March 28, 2012, Steven Silverman, director of the Office of Compliance at FDA’s Center

For many years, people who follow the hearing industry have known that ear scanning technology would eventually make the taking of ear impressions for custom hearing aids obsolete. In 2010, Holly Hosford-Dunn wrote about the work that Lantos Technologies was doing in this area. She subsequently updated her article for a post on her Hearing Economics blog. And, as she