This Week in Hearing

What happens when hearing loss shapes an artist’s path? Priscila Soares—a Brazilian-American artist, illustrator, and mother—draws on her experience with single-sided deafness and raising a child with profound hearing loss to create artwork that reflects, honors, and connects with the hearing loss community. In this thoughtful conversation, Priscila shares how reconnecting with her creativity through therapy led to a growing

What happens when audiology students learn directly from people living with hearing loss? In this episode, Shari Eberts talks with Dr. Kathleen Cienkowski, audiologist and professor at the University of Connecticut, about her recent efforts to incorporate community-engaged learning into the audiology curriculum. Their conversation centers around a class project where students read Hear & Beyond—the practical guide to living

Four years ago, in July 2021, This Week in Hearing was launched to spotlight the ideas, innovations, and voices shaping the hearing industry. Since then, the platform has grown into a trusted source for timely and insightful conversations, with nearly 300 interviews published to date. From hearing aids and cochlear implants to consumer audio, tinnitus research, and public health policy,

What happens when a global hearing aid manufacturer and a fashion house join forces to challenge stigma? In this episode, host Andrew Bellavia speaks with Marie Schleimann Nordlund, Director of Communication and Community at GN Hearing, and Kristian Rye, CEO of Han Kjøbenhavn, about their recent collaboration showcased at Copenhagen Fashion Week. Together, the two companies brought hearing health to

For many with hearing loss, traditional meditation practices fall short—one woman is working to change that. Janaki Zaremba is a lifelong meditator who also lives with hearing loss, she’s developing a more inclusive and sensory-friendly approach to mindfulness that goes beyond traditional audio-based guidance. In this conversation with Shari Eberts, Janaki shares how meditation helped her navigate the emotional landscape

Dr. Tena McNamara’s audiology journey has spanned clinical practice, academic leadership, advocacy, and national service. With more than four decades of experience and dual certification in audiology and speech-language pathology, Dr. McNamara has worked across educational systems, early intervention, and higher education. She currently serves as a pediatric audiologist at Midwest Children’s Therapy and is the immediate past president of

Hearing care professionals often face challenges when trying to evaluate and compare performance claims across hearing aid brands. Andrew Bellavia speaks with Michael Preuss, Audiology Manager at Sonova, about Phonak’s approach to validating its claims through objective, lab-based methods designed to better reflect real-world listening environments. Preuss explains how Phonak uses a 12-speaker array and ambisonic sound recordings to simulate

What does it take to build sustainable hearing care infrastructure in underserved regions of the world? In this inspiring interview, Andrew Bellavia is joined by Richard Brown, Chairman and President of the Starkey Hearing Foundation, and Dr. Alfred Mwamba, Executive Director of the Starkey Hearing Institute in Zambia, to explore the foundation’s evolution from mission-based outreach to a scalable, community-empowered

How well do hearing aids handle noisy, real-world environments? Dr. Bob Traynor sits down with Drs. Sheena Oliver and Eric Branda of WS Audiology to discuss a recent independent study conducted by Hörzentrum Oldenburg. The research compared speech understanding performance between Signia’s Integrated Xperience (IX) hearing aids and another leading device featuring an AI co-processor. The conversation explores the implications

What if a digital tool could help bridge the gap between hearing loss and informed action? In this session from the 2025 Future of Hearing Healthcare Conference, Dr. Mel Ferguson of Curtin University introduces the HearChoice project—a co-designed, evidence-based decision aid developed to empower adults with hearing loss. Backed by Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council, HearChoice is designed