Overheard: From the AA Staff

Thankful for the Attention

2009-11-25T16:14:00Z

Thanksgiving is upon us, and so it made sense to me to write about something I'm thankful for this week. No, I'm not talking about good health and good fortune, nor am I referring to my fiancé, family and friends. While I'm thankful for all of those things and more, I'm going to keep an audiologic bent on this one. And so, without further adieu, this week, I am thankful for a column by Lisa Miller, religion editor at Newsweek . In her article " Abortion is Not the Only Moral Issue ," Miller discusses...(read more)

Hearing Aid Burglary Has Happy Ending

2009-11-18T17:46:00Z

After news reports showed the local community reaching out to help, a conscience-riddled burglar who stole two hearing aids belonging to 11-year-old Haley Osmond of Edmonton, Canada, anonymously returned one of them Monday. "Shows that this guy at least has some conscience to him," Const. Jeff Benedict from Edmonton police said in an article in the CBC News . The aids, which were the external pieces of cochlear implants and reported to be worth more than $20,000, had been in Haley's schoolbag, and...(read more)

Two Negatives Make a Positive

2009-11-12T19:18:00Z

Recent research from the University of Rochester Medical Center has shown that crossing a mouse with poor hearing and a mouse with even worse hearing results in a strain of mice who have "golden ears"-meaning they retain great hearing, despite the onset of age. This unlikely result fascinates me, mainly because I can't quite wrap my head around it. The concept of negatives negating one another makes sense mathematically and linguistically, but it seems odd that it would work on a genetic scale. I...(read more)

HIV and Hearing Loss

2009-11-04T19:09:00Z

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center are beginning a five-year study on the strength of a $1.9 million grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders that will compare the hearing of people with HIV/AIDS to people without HIV. According to study lead Amneris Luque, MD, associate professor of Medicine and director of Strong Memorial Hospital's AIDS Clinic, hearing loss has been reported among AIDS patients since the disease was recognized three...(read more)

Benefits of Office Help

2009-10-28T19:34:00Z

Although the country is still in the midst of a major economic crunch, it's important not to overlook/undervalue the importance of quality office help. Yes, having that extra employee can be a financial strain on an audiology practice's bottom line, but I thought I'd share two articles from our recently released November/December 2009 issue of ADVANCE that both happened to make what I think are two pretty good points: Having office help can result in quality of life benefits; and Administrative support...(read more)

The Sound of Silence

2009-10-21T19:27:00Z

I just became aware of From Silence to Sound , a documentary that tells the story of the first recipient of a bilateral cochlear implant in Oklahoma. The film is slated to play at the New York International Film Festival on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, and because of that, I received a press release. It seems like an interesting film, so I thought I'd pass along some excerpts from the release: "Director Chase Matthews offers this moving documentary about Justin Garrett, a completely deaf young man who,...(read more)

Fun with the Cochlear Cartoon

2009-10-14T17:14:00Z

Over the course of the last two weeks, I've blogged about some pretty political stuff, offering up lengthy opinion pieces on government volume control and acoustic warfare. This week, I thought I'd take a lighter approach and focus on something a bit less controversial and a bit more fun. Because of this, I'm just going to keep this blog short and point out a cute little picture I came across when sifting through Google alerts. According to FastCharacters.com , a company that offers cartoon character...(read more)

Are LRADs Really Necessary?

2009-10-07T18:14:00Z

Is it OK for police forces to use acoustic warfare to disperse unruly crowds and political protestors? That's the question I'm currently pondering, as I'm sure are many in the hearing industry (and, to be honest, the entire country) after the events that transpired in Pittsburgh last week. For those who are unaware, a quick summary: Pittsburgh police used a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) to disperse protestors at the Group of 20 summit last week. The device, which targets large volumes of sound...(read more)

Debating Volume Control and Healthcare

2009-09-30T18:44:00Z

Here in the U.S., a great deal of talk is swirling about government-regulated healthcare. Over in Europe, they've already got a universal healthcare option, so they're focusing on something else-regulating volume levels on MP3 players. The European Union has asked Apple, makers of the iPod, and other manufacturers, to "display labels advising users of the damaging long-term effects of loud music on their hearing or to devise a system of on-screen alerts triggered by the prolonged use of headphones...(read more)

House Passes Legislation to Reduce Classroom Noise

2009-09-23T21:25:00Z

A bill has passed in the House of Representatives that, if approved, will reduce exposure to noise in classrooms and improve acoustics, according to a news brief posted by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. The bill (H.R. 3221) focuses primarily on student aid, but it also provides funding for school construction and modernization that would, among other things, address the issue of noise in classrooms. Combatting noise in the classroom has been a long-term goal of ASHA, and other...(read more)

Passionate Responses Support 4S

2009-09-16T18:39:00Z

As some of you may know, every blog and article on the ADVANCE for Audiologists Web site allows readers to give feedback through comment sections. We launch a new top story on our Web site every two weeks as part of our Web update, and it's usually good for a few comments but, other than that, we typically get a spattering of comments here and there-maybe a few each week. This isn't really disconcerting to us-we love the feedback, but we understand our readers are very busy people and that they can't...(read more)

Politics Aside, Army Aces Hearing Health

2009-09-09T21:15:00Z

Audiology has a long history with the U.S. Army and modern warfare. According to the Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA), "Audiology was born out of the armed forces rehabilitation programs during and following World War II." 1 All these years later, audiology has grown into a full-fledged profession, and America is in the midst of another war. Unsurprisingly, hearing issues have arisen as a result of the war and, setting politics aside, it seems the Army should really be commended for the way...(read more)

Loud Shirt Day: A Crazy-Sounding Holiday Worth Supporting

2009-09-02T19:32:00Z

Peculiar People Day... Lost Sock Memorial Day... Smile Power Day... Winnie the Pooh Day. If you didn't already know (don't feel bad if not; I didn't), these are all celebrated holidays. They obviously aren't in the same league as a Christmas or Thanksgiving, or heck, even Groundhog's Day or April Fool's Day, but they exist, because... well, I don't know really--I assume it has something to do with advancements in technology resulting in everyone having too much time on their hands mixed with the...(read more)

Practices Could Benefit From Getting in Tune With Musicians

2009-08-26T20:26:00Z

It's no secret that hearing loss is a major problem for musicians. The lifestyle of a musician--constant concerts, endless recording sessions, and so forth--puts significant stress on the ears, packing multiple lifetimes' worth of sound into small periods of time. Furthermore, hearing loss doesn't just affect musicians' personal lives; it can hinder the ability to play a musical instrument and thus curtail musicians' livelihoods. These perils were highlighted pretty succinctly in a recent news update...(read more)

Deaf411 Reports on “Deaf-Friendly” Cities in the U.S.

2009-08-19T17:16:00Z

Deaf411, a deaf marketing and public relations company, recently completed the "Deaf-Friendly Cities in the U.S." project, which lists 20 cities culled from four regions throughout the country. A full report of the results from the 15-month survey is available online at www.deaf411online.com . Deaf411 launched the survey online in April 2008, and since then more than 3700 people have participated in an online survey that attempts to find out what is important to deaf people. The results split the...(read more)