Building a Better Model for Hearing Healthcare
Periodically evaluating operation models in hearing healthcare to determine how they could be improved upon can reap great rewards.
Category: Blogs
Blogs
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Blogs
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Advancements in Bluetooth Technology Coming Soon
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced in July that it has completed the full set of LE Audio specifications, which will now permit the release of products supporting the next generation of Bluetooth audio.
Blogs
Latest
Loud Live Music Versus Loud Recorded Music
During this time of Covid, we haven’t been able to attend live concerts, symphonies, or opera events. While musicians are just now beginning to perform live for the first time in months, if not years, the question arises about the dynamics (loud/soft features) of loud music.
OTC Rules Commentary Deadline Looming: Starkey Exec Outlines Major Points
The FDA is now months away from finalizing the OTC hearing aid regulation. That’s why it has never been more important for hearing healthcare professionals to act – and act quickly – to have their voices heard by the decisionmakers in Washington, DC.
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What Did Skinner & Miller Have to Say About Hearing Aid Fittings?
It is rare to have a column about a review of an article—especially an article from almost 40 years ago—but the 1983 publication by Skinner and Miller is a must-read (or must re-read) article. It describes the work primarily done by Margaret (Margo) Skinner in her PhD thesis.
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US Hearing Aid Sales Roar Back
Even though any comparison of today’s US hearing aid sales to those of 2020 is bound to involve gaudy numbers—recall that total sales fell by more than half (58.6%) in the second quarter of last year due to the pandemic—statistics from the Hearing Industries Association (HIA) confirm a big comeback.
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Three Distinct Hearing Aid Programs for Music?
In preparation for a book that will be (hopefully) published in the spring of 2022 called “Music and Hearing Aids” (Plural Publishing, working title), I conducted a literature review of previous research regarding the programming of hearing aids for music.
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Eras in Hearing Aid Technology
The article by Jensen et al in this edition of “The Hearing Review” about sound quality through the ages got me thinking about how circuit technology has evolved.
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Should We Stop Using Sound Level Meters?
With the advent of smartphone apps, free or inexpensive sound level meters are now within the reach of virtually anyone. Marshall Chasin, AuD, asks “Are sound level meters a thing of the past?”
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Comorbidities and Hearing Care
We need to celebrate the victories when we can. The progress made in creating awareness about the links between diabetes and hearing loss has been impressive.
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A Smooth Frequency Response May Not Necessarily Be a Golden Rule in Sound Quality
In the fields of audiology, sound recording, and engineering audio design, a commonly held adage or golden rule is that the frequency response should be as flat or as “smooth” as possible.
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Blog: Veteran’s Day Highlights ‘Invisible Wounds’ of Military Members
Veterans Day is an important opportunity to not only show our deep gratitude to those who have served our country, but to highlight the issues that impact them the most. Sara Burdak, AuD, explains why working with veterans with hearing loss and tinnitus is a privilege.
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LRADs, Trumpets, and Loudspeakers
LRADs are loudspeaker systems on steroids and are easily capable of generating outputs on the order of 120 dBA at 10 meters. Although we don’t have very good models for noise exposure over 115 dBA, we do know that levels of 120 dBA (with peaks being up to 15 dB higher) can create acoustic trauma.
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Blog: Sound Quality as a Tipping Point for the Younger, Milder Hearing Loss Market
Exceptional sound quality—above all the other “bells and whistles” that the latest generation of hearing aids provide (eg, connectivity, remote fine-tuning, hands-free phone calls, motion-sensors and tap controls, virtual assistants, etc)—may turn out to be THE final hurdle for convincing younger people with milder hearing losses to purchase a hearing aid.
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‘Discover Magazine’ Article Challenges Notion of Deafness as Something to Be ‘Cured’
In an article published on the ”Discover Magazine” website, author Sarah Katz challenges the view in the scientific community that deafness is a problem that needs to be cured, potentially by new CRISPR technology that could eliminate a TMC1 gene mutation.
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BIHIMA Supports Hearing Care Industry Response to COVID-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected all of us in varying ways and our industry is responding admirably, pulling together to balance the need for provision with patient safety, while keeping infection risk as low as possible for audiologists and other clinical practitioners.
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The Age of Telehealth
Every crisis has a silver lining and one of the clear front-runners during the COVID-19 pandemic is the increased use of virtual healthcare visits, says author Archelle Georgiou, MD. Telehealth for getting medical care over the Internet has been available for more than 20 years, but use of the technology was low until the pandemic severely restricted providers and patients from having face-to-face visits.
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The Long-Haul and Covid-19
In general, business conditions improved significantly, with US hearing aid sales estimated at about 85% of what they were last June. Most market analysts are also predicting large increases in sales for 2021-2022 due to pent-up demand.
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