Hearing News Watch

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

CARLSBAD, CA—Audiology is rated as the sixth best career for 2012, according to an article published last week in The Wall Street Journal (April 11, page B6). The annual ranking of America’s 200 best (and worst) occupations was compiled by the California-based CareerCast.com. This year’s list promoted audiology three notches from the ninth spot in CareerCast’s 2011 report. What makes

TUCSON, AZ—Hearinghealthmatters.org marked its first anniversary this week with the announcement of a new blogger and a new blog section. Readers will also note that the blog’s home page has been newly redesigned to be more attractive and make the site easier to navigate. Christine Diles, AuD, a veteran private-practice audiologist, will write her first post in the April 18

ST. PAUL, MN–When parents suspect or find out that their child has hearing loss, they may not know where to turn. Now, thanks to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), they have a new online source of information on early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) for infants and children. The site <www.improveehdi.org/mn> is intended also for healthcare providers and other

Directed by Dave Speidel, the AAA Chorus opened the General Assembly with a rousing rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.   By David H. Kirkwood BOSTON–“Welcome to the largest gathering of audiologists in the history of the world!” That’s how Karen Jacobs, AuD, program chair for AudiologyNOW! 2012, opened the General Assembly on March 29. The session drew a large portion

NEW YORK—The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary (NYEE) launched a national media campaign this week to focus attention on the serious problem of hearing loss, which affects the lives of an estimated 36 million Americans. And signing on to help NYEE get its message across is the world-renowned trumpeter and composer Chris Botti. In a public service announcement released

NEW YORK– New York City’s “Taxi of Tomorrow” was unveiled this week, and the good news for riders with hearing aids and cochlear implants is that it includes an induction hearing loop. The public got its first look at the state-of-the-art Nissan vehicle NV200 yesterday (April 6) at the 2012 New York Auto Show. The NV200 reflects many requests made by

CHICAGO—Going to the movies in Illinois will soon become much more enjoyable for people with hearing loss. That’s because the AMC movie chain, Illinois’s largest, has reached an agreement with the attorney-general’s office to install closed captioning in all 246 of its movie theaters in the state. AMC, which is based in Kansas City, MO, will also provide audio-description services