Author: Karl

US Hearing Aid Sales Up by 5.7% in First Half of 2018

In the second quarter of 2018, US quarterly sales of hearing aids exceeded 1 million net units for the first time in the industry’s history, according to statistics generated by the Hearing Industries Association (HIA). In Q2 2018, unit sales increased by 5.73% compared to the same period last year—the exact same percentage growth as the first quarter’s sales’ growth rate.

Read More

Inventis Establishes New North American Office in Minneapolis

Inventis SRL—the Italian audiometric equipment manufacturer of audiometers, video otoscopes, REM systems, and more—has announced the opening of its new US office in Minneapolis, the company’s first office established outside its world headquarters in Padova, Italy. Riccardo Rizzoli, who has been with Inventis for 6 years, has been appointed as its managing director.

Read More

Effects of Amplification on Cortical Electrophysiological Function

There has been great interest in using speech-evoked cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEP) as an objective hearing aid validation measure, because CAEPs allow us to assess the audibility of speech sounds at the highest (cortical) levels. Here is a review by Sridhar Krishnamurti and Larry Wise, as well as results from a study they conducted that suggests there is clinical value of CAEPs for assessing cortical changes from amplification, as well as using this data in audiology services to demonstrate patient benefit.

Read More

Clinical Speech Audiometry in the Age of the AERP

True listening involves more than just repeating words. Might there be useful ways to think about quantifying listening effort by taking advantage of a considerable body of research on the auditory event-related potential (AERP)? In this article, Dr James Jerger explores two different ways to think about clinical speech audiometry relative to assessing total listening effort: 1) Altering the task from repetition to decision, and 2) Evaluating the response evoked by the decision via an AERP paradigm.

Read More

Mythbusters’ Myth #5: “Including Family Members in the Appointment Takes Up Too Much Valuable Time”

Sometimes colleagues complain that, while it may seem like a nice idea to include family members in the audiologic assessment and rehabilitation process (ie, nice to do), it is just too time consuming. But what if family involvement in the rehabilitation process not only provides more efficient use of time, but results in better outcomes? Drs Christopher Lind, Joseph Montano, and Gurgit Singh show why it’s a myth that “there isn’t time to include family members” in an appointment.

Read More

25 Years of Mergers and Acquisitions in Hearing Healthcare

The hearing healthcare field was recently surprised by the announcement that Widex and Sivantos (formerly Siemens) plan to merge their companies. However, the hearing healthcare industry has always been in constant flux, with many mergers and acquisitions (M&As) during the past 25 years. Here is a select list of industry M&As since 1994.

Read More

Sivantos and Widex Announce Plans to Merge

Sivantos and Widex have agreed to terms for merging the two companies. The combined company—pending what will probably be a long and possibly uncertain regulatory approval process—would position it on par with current global market leaders Sonova and William Demant Holding, with a worldwide market share of around 24-25% and revenues of approximately $1.9 billion.

Read More