This Week in Hearing

This week, host Shari Eberts talks with Katie Petruzziello, the author of “Mighty Mila,” a children’s book that celebrates the adventures of a young girl with cochlear implants. Unlike many traditional hearing loss books, Mighty Mila focuses on showcasing children’s abilities and adventures, regardless of their hearing abilities. Katie shares her family’s hearing loss journey and the inspiration behind the

While attempts to incorporate health sensors in earbuds has faced challenges like comfort, battery drain, and a lack of compelling use cases, there are ongoing developments to overcome these issues. One company, MindMics, has developed technology that allows users to monitor heart rate and other health characteristics acoustically, using the ear canal as a microphone. Dr. Anna Barnacka, the founder

This week, host Dave Kemp is joined by two distinguished researchers from the National Acoustics Laboratory (NAL) in Australia. Dr. Padraig Kitterick and Dr. Paola Incerti, discuss their work on developing the NALguide, a new tool designed to demystify hearing aid technology and features for consumers. The NALguide is the result of a collaborative effort involving engineers, audiologists, and behavioral

This week Andy Bellavia is joined by Deaftronics co-founder, Tendekayi Katsiga, and Georgia Tech professor, Dr. Saad Bhamla, to discuss their respective projects aimed at addressing the global crisis of hearing loss. Deaftronics, based in Botswana, designs and manufactures affordable hearing aids that utilize solar power, while promoting awareness and accessibility to hearing care solutions, particularly in low-resource and underserved

This week, host Andy Bellavia is joined by two researchers from the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. Nicholas Reed, AuD, and Kening Jiang, MHS, discuss their research into the complex relationships between hearing loss, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and cognitive decline. Kening Jiang discusses her study on the connection between hearing loss and self-reported fatigue,

This week, Dave Kemp is joined by Dr. Daniel Romero and Dr. King Chung, to discuss their experience as part of a humanitarian mission to Poland working with Ukrainian refugees. Along with students and translators, they were able to provide essential audiological services, including hearing assessments, hearing aid fittings and vestibular evaluations and treatment. Looking ahead, they plan to continue

Falls are one of the costliest mishaps affecting older adults, and there is evidence suggesting a link between age-related hearing loss and falling. Dr. Laura Campos, a clinical audiologist at the University of Colorado, recently joined Brian Taylor to discuss her study’s focus on hearing aid usage and the potential for reduced fall risk in older adults. The research revealed

This week, Amyn Amlani sits down with Audicus founder and CEO, Patrick Freuler, to discuss direct to consumer hearing care. His company, Audicus, has been providing hearing aids direct to consumers for over 10 years. They discuss how Patrick’s background in engineering and healthcare led to the creation of Audicus, and how the company has evolved over the past decade,

This week, Brian Taylor welcomes Professor Christina Roup from The Ohio State University to discuss adults with normal audiograms and self-reported hearing difficulty. The prevalence of this condition is estimated to be around 12-15% in younger and middle-aged adults, with a higher prevalence in older age groups and those with a history of traumatic brain injury. Dr. Roup reviews some

This week, Gael Hannan sits down with Tiffany Storrs, a trilingual actress, advocate, and author of the memoir “Adaptability.” She shares her transformation from pain to purpose through faith and determination and describes her experience with sudden hearing loss and two hearing implant surgeries. Tiffany’s hearing loss struck suddenly after giving birth, and coming to terms with her new reality