Serendipity Hearing Inc has announced that it recently became the registered owner of the Sonus Hearing Care Professionals trademark. This development will allow Serendipity and Sonus to grow and provide hearing care to many more people nationwide.
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Scientists at The Rockefeller University are working to find a way to regenerate the delicate sensory cells, or “hair cells,” of hearing and balance within the inner ear by examining how they develop in the first place. A research team has identified two genes pivotal to the production of hair cells in young mice, who, just like human babies, lose the ability to generate these sensors shortly after birth.
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Each year, through Project Amazon, a partnership with the American Academy of Audiology Foundation, the Oticon Hearing Foundation underwrites the costs of a humanitarian mission that gives one audiologist and one audiology student the opportunity to travel to one of Brazil’s most impoverished communities to provide audiological care and hearing solutions.
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The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) has announced that, for the first time, scientists have used gene therapy to correct defective structures in the inner ears of newborn mice. The mice used in the NIDCD study had a type of hereditary deafness also found in humans.
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The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) held an open teleconference on October 23, 2015 to discuss its report, “Aging America & Hearing Loss: Imperative of Improved Hearing Technologies.” Among the PCAST’s recommendations are a distinct FDA category for “basic” OTC hearing aids without the requirement for consultation with a credentialed dispenser, and the FDA’s withdrawal of its draft guidance document regarding personal sound amplification devices (PSAPs), referring instead to this new category as “devices for discretionary consumer use.” The Hearing Industries Assn (HIA) strongly disagrees with the PCAST and says it will be responding to the numerous errors in the report.
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The Hearing Industries Association (HIA) has announced that Kim Lody, president of ReSound US, has been elected to the HIA Board. Lody is a veteran healthcare industry executive, and previously served as a member of the HIA Market Development Committee.
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Williams Sound, Minneapolis, Minn, announced the one-year anniversary of its partnership with World Marketing Associates, based in the UK. According to the company, World Marketing’s connections in the EMEA audio-visual market are extensive and its success over the past year is evident.
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A University of Missouri (MU) psychologist conducted a study review of human vestigial muscles behind the ears and determined that ancient neural circuits responsible for moving the ears may be responsive to sounds. Neuroscientists studying auditory function could use these nonfunctioning muscles to study infant hearing deficits.
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More than 150 Congressional staffers, hearing advocates, and guests attended a special hearing screening reception held by the Friends of the Congressional Hearing Health Caucus (FCHHC) on October 22, 2015 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC.
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The Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate scheduled a joint hearing for October 27, 2015 on HB262 and SB176. Both bills include provisions that would ban payments “to physicians, otolaryngologists or audiologists as inducements to influence the recommendation of the purchase of a hearing aid.”
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The Hearing Industries Association (HIA) announced that it sponsored the Annual Charity Bowling Event held on October 17, 2015 by the Nevada chapter of the AG Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The event provided a fun outing for 150 local children with hearing loss.
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The HIA reported on a September 28 IOM teleconference that examined a Voluntary Standard for PSAPs, which is under consideration by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The IOM will hold a 4th public meeting to address a range of hearing health issues on November 13, 2015.
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Third Rock Ventures LLC, a healthcare venture firm, has announced the launch of Decibel Therapeutics, with $52 million in financing by Third Rock and SR One, the corporate venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline, to discover new medicines that protect, repair, and restore hearing.
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The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) will hold an open teleconference on Friday, October 23, 2015, from 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM (ET), to discuss its Aging America and Hearing Loss: Imperative of Improved Hearing Technologies report. (Registration now closed.)
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A Q&A about the new Siemens Spatial Speech Focus, which directs amplification toward specific spatial regions for better speech understanding.
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