Hearing News Watch

SOMERSET, NJ–The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Oticon Medical 510(k) clearance to market a bone-anchored power processor called Ponto Pro Power. In announcing the FDA approval on June 27, Oticon Medical said that the new device will benefit adults and children with severe hearing loss due to malfunctioning of the ear canal or middle ear (conductive or

  SAN DIEGO—A meta-analysis of 11 studies has found a strong correlation between diabetes and hearing loss. A group of Japanese researchers reported that people with hearing loss are about 50% more likely to have diabetes than an otherwise comparable population with normal hearing. The scientists presented their findings on June 23 at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting in

RESTON, VA–The American Medical Association (AMA) announced on June 23 that it has selected the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) to serve on its Current Procedural Terminology/Health Care Professionals Advisory Committee. The CPT/HCPAC is a panel of specialty societies charged with facilitating the review and development of applications for CPT codes used by qualified non-physician health care professionals. AMA’s decision

BOSTON–If her great grand uncle were “only” America’s greatest inventor, there would still be plenty of interest in Sarah Miller Caldicott’s keynote address at the 2011 International Hearing Society (IHS) Convention. However, what makes Ms. Caldicott such a fitting choice to speak to the hundreds of hearing professionals who will be gathered in Boston on September 15 is that her

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL–The assets of Hear USA, one of the nation’s largest networks of hearing aid dispensing practices, will go up for bids in an auction to be       held in the Fort Lauderdale offices of the law firm Berger Singerman P.A. HearUSA, which is based in West Palm Beach, filed under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code on May

PARIS–Sanofi, a major global pharmaceutical company, announced June 16 a 2-year research collaboration with Audion Therapeutics to develop potential treatments for hearing loss through a regenerative medicine approach. Sanofi <www.sanofi.com>, which is based in Paris, and the Dutch company Audion will use technology that Dr. Albert Edge developed at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary’s Eaton-Peabody Laboratory in Boston. Edge, a co-founder

LIVONIA, MI—The International Hearing Society (IHS) has a new face in the nation’s capital. She is Alissa Parady, the organization’s recently named government affairs manager. Because she operates out of  Washington, Parady will be positioned to enhance IHS’s relations with DC-based consumer, industry, and government organizations. In announcing this addition to IHS’s government affairs program, Alan Lowell, BC-HIS, ACA, the

VANCOUVER, BC–The hearing aid market in China and India, now valued at over $1 billion, will nearly double by 2017, according to a new report by iData Research (www.idataresearch.net). The Canadian-based authority on the global medical device market includes both retail and wholesale sales in its figures. There is plenty of room for growth, says iData’s analyst manager, Douglas Fung,

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND—It has long been popular folk wisdom that people who lose one of their senses early in life help compensate for it by developing another sense more acutely. For example, the large number of blind musicians is sometimes cited as evidence that lack of vision results in enhanced auditory sensibility and thereby promotes outstanding musical gifts. A recent study,

SALEM, OR—Lending a helping hand to people with hearing and vision problems has been a Lions Club International mission for decades. One way members of the service organization have done this is by collecting and donating used hearing aids and eyeglasses to people in need. However, in recent years, liability concerns have sometimes stood in their way. The Lions have