With 480 members/owners and staff in attendance, Audigy Group recently held its Fall 2009 Summit at the Palazzo Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. The conference for elite private hearing practices included hands-on workshops, designed to increase efficiency, define success and build teamwork in each functional area of the practice.

The workshops, 48 in total, covered a range of topics under Audigy Group's shared services: marketing, finance, business development, professional development, human resources, and operational systems. Audigy Group staff and its nationally recognized member/owners conducted the seminars, and participants included practice owners, hearing specialists/providers and all office staff. The event provided an exceptional team building platform for the large number of practices who attended with their entire staffs.

Founded by CEO Brandon Dawson, Audigy Group assists independent hearing practice owners to preserve and grow their businesses in an increasingly competitive environment of industry consolidation and integration by corporations.

For more information: www.audigypro.com

Of the 31.5 million Americans (10 percent of the population) with hearing loss, 24 million forgo treatment.

The above statistic is striking for many reasons, including that hearing loss is linked to reduced job performance and earning potential-a very serious concern considering the state of the economy. No less of a concern is the fact that untreated hearing loss also is linked to irritability, loneliness and withdrawal from social situations.

Knowing this, why are 24 million Americans not receiving care for their hearing loss?

ASHA member Aaron Schroeder will answer this question today--Friday, Nov. 20--at 1 pm in room 346 of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (To Hear or Not to Hear: Barriers to Better Hearing, Presentation 0157) during the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) National Convention in New Orleans, LA.

Schroeder will discuss the statistics, the barriers, and reasons why people do not seek help with their hearing loss. These barriers include lack of knowledge regarding hearing loss and where to receive a hearing aid and treatment, financial considerations, and negative attitudes toward hearing aids. Schroeder's presentation also will focus on removing these barriers, which will hopefully clear a path for more people with hearing loss to receive care.

His presentation is part of ASHA's National Convention, which began Nov. 19 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and runs through Saturday, Nov. 21. The 3-day convention includes workshops, paper sessions, and poster presentations, plus a keynote address by stage and screen star Ben Vereen that covers how speech-language pathologists helped him find his way back to speech after a serious accident.

For more information: www.asha.org/about/news

Farmers are at an increased risk for hearing loss due to noise from farm machinery. Even though hearing protection devices can reduce the risk of noise-induced hearing loss, use of these devices among farmers is generally lacking, according to researchers who presented their findings this morning at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) National Convention in New Orleans LA.

According to ASHA members Melissa Miller and Donald Fuller, less than half of the farmers they surveyed use hearing protection. Miller and Fuller indicated the four reasons why farmers do not use hearing protection: inconvenience, the inability to hear possible machine malfunctions, misplacing of the protection devices, and uncomfortable fit.

Miller and Fuller argued that hearing protection manufacturers need to address the reasons farmers are not wearing hearing protection. The farmers surveyed said devices should be easy to use, nonintrusive, comfortable, and convenient.

Miller and Fuller also discussed the need for hearing professionals to better educate farmers as to the hazards of not wearing hearing protection while operating farm machinery. The researchers discussed their findings Thursday, Nov. 19, at 8:00 am in Hall G at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (Use of Hearing Protection by Farmers in Washington State, Presentation 0114, Poster Board 354).

Their presentation is part of ASHA's National Convention, which began Nov. 19 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and runs through Saturday, Nov. 21. The 3-day convention includes workshops, paper sessions, and poster presentations, plus a keynote address by stage and screen star Ben Vereen that covers how speech-language pathologists helped him find his way back to speech after a serious accident.

For more information: www.asha.org/about/news

ADA is pleased to announce that on October 31, 2009, Tabitha Parent Buck, AuD, was installed as ADA's president for the 2010 program year. Dr. Parent Buck, who serves as associate professor and chair of audiology at A.T. Still University, Arizona School of Health Sciences, has been a member of ADA since 1995.

"I am looking forward to working with the board to advance ADA's primary objective," said Dr. Parent Buck, "which is to be the organization that embraces and promotes audiologists owning the profession through autonomous practice models."

Other ADA board members who have been elected to serve for the 2010 program year include: Charles Stone, AuD, past president; Bruce Vircks, AuD, president-elect; Eric Hagberg, AuD, treasurer; Susan Parr, AuD, secretary; Brian Urban, AuD, member-at-large; and Pamela Benbow, AuD, member-at-large.

In addition, ADA is pleased to announce that Rita Chaiken, AuD, has been appointed to serve as member-at-large for a two-year term to fulfill the board vacancy that emerged when Dr. Vircks was elected to serve as president-elect.

For more information: www.audiologist.org

For 20 years, Bellman & Symfon of Sweden has been dedicated to improve the quality of life for hard of hearing and deaf. Bellman & Symfon AB was founded in 1989 and now has about 35 employees in Sweden and engages about 120 people in its international operations. The company is growing rapidly and Bellman & Symfon products, with focus on quality, easy handling and attractive design, are currently offered to hard of hearing and deaf people through qualify partners in more than 45 international markets.

In 2008, Mr. Peter Jungvid, the founder and CEO of Bellman & Symfon, personally moved to Guangzhou (Canton), China to set up a branch office. Today, Bellman & Symfon Asia Ltd. has more than 10 employees in China and just moved to a new office on Nov. 6.

In the US, Bellman & Symfon's products can be sourced from qualified partners, such as Harris Communication, Sound Clarity and Hal Hen.

For more information: www.bellman.cn

Since its inception in 1997, the Oticon Focus on People Awards has honored outstanding people with hearing loss who prove that hearing loss does not limit a person's ability to live a full, productive and even, inspiring life. This year, the national awards competition, sponsored by Oticon Inc., celebrates twelve years of honoring people who defy the stigma of hearing loss. The addition of twelve new honorees brings the number of individuals honored by the program for their accomplishments and contributions to 192-an even 16 dozen.

Among this year winners is the program's oldest honoree to date: 100-years-young Julius Barthoff of Needham, MA, who was the overwhelming choice of the judges for first place in the highly competitive adult category. Barthoff, who celebrated his 100^th birthday shortly before the awards presentation, has worn hearing instruments since 1923 and has been an advocate for recognition of people with hearing loss throughout his long and service-minded life. Also honored at the ceremony was Paige Stringer (advocacy category), founder of The Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss and Kristin Grasberger (student category), a freshman at James Madison University who has worked to change perceptions, not only of hearing loss but also of the many developmental and physical challenges faced by the children and teens she mentors. In the practitioner category, audiologist David Woodruff, AuD, of San Diego was recognized for charitable work that has improved the lives of thousands of disadvantaged children with hearing loss in Southeast Asia.

The Oticon Focus on People Awards program is designed to focus attention on common misconceptions about hearing loss, correct negative stereotypes and motivate people with hearing loss to take advantage of the help that is available to them.

"We are gratified that for twelve years, practitioners, educators, families, and friends have nominated outstanding people with hearing loss and dedicated professionals for the Focus on People Awards," stated Oticon President Peer Lauritsen. "Each year, hundreds of nominations representing people from all walks of life are reviewed by our judging panel. Each has a unique story and has made a unique contribution to changing negative perceptions of hearing loss. We are both humbled by their accomplishments and inspired by their ability to make a meaningful difference for people with hearing loss."

In addition to a $1000 prize, first place winners also received a $1000 donation from Oticon Inc. to the non-profit organization of their choice. Also honored at the awards presentation were eight second and third place winners in the program's five categories: Student (full-time students with hearing loss, ages 6-21), Adult (people with hearing loss, ages 21 and beyond), Advocacy (individuals of all ages involved in advocacy for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community), and Practitioner (for hearing care professionals currently in practice).

The winners were selected by independent judging committee composed of leading hearing care professionals. This year's program judges included: Anne Anderson, MA, CCC-A, FAAA, of Mt. Arlington, NJ; Nancy Green, HIS, of River Valley Hearing Care Center, North Mankato, MN; Dennis Hatherill, AuD, of Kelsey-Seybold Audiology in Houston, TX; Marilyn Hinrichs, AuD, CCC-A, FAAA, of Advanced Hearing Care, Dallas, TX; and John Miles, AuD, of Los Gatos, CA.

FIRST PLACE CATEGORY WINNERS

ADULT
Julius Barthoff of Needham, MA
Julius Barthoff, who recently celebrated his 100^th birthday, has worn hearing instruments since 1923 and has been an advocate for recognition of people with hearing loss throughout his long and service-minded life. He has developed buttons ("Speak up, I Am Hearing Impaired") and index card-sized instructions ("I am profoundly hearing impaired. We can communicate by following these simple rules. . .") that he happily shares--providing guidance and inspiration to the many people with hearing loss he has encountered in his 100 years. More recently, Barthoff has successfully lobbied for the local library to install a TTY telephone, advised countless fellow senior citizens on hearing loss and hearing aids and is currently working to get a crosswalk installed on the street that connects his senior housing and the local hospital. Described as "lively, vibrant and warm," Julius is a widower who lives on his own and continues his commitment to doing a good deed daily. Each morning, he delivers the newspapers to each apartment door in his senior residence--propping them up "just so" so that when a resident opens the door, the paper falls neatly in.

STUDENT
Kristin Grasberger of Mechanicsburg, PA
Eighteen-year-old Kristin Grasberger has never allowed her hearing loss to limit her dreams. A freshman at James Madison University, Kristin is pursuing a degree in music education--a remarkable accomplishment for someone whose hearing loss was first identified in kindergarten. The National Merit scholar excels in music and languages and is committed to sharing her love of music with others through entertainment, enrichment and education. For several years, she has organized and performed in chamber concerts at local hospitals and tutored students at an inner city school. Kristin is equally passionate about changing negative perceptions of disabilities--from her own hearing loss to the developmental and physical challenges faced by the children and teens she mentors in the Young Life Capernaum.

ADVOCACY
Paige Stringer of Seattle, WA
Paige Stringer, who was born with a hearing loss, attributes her ability to excel in school and work to early intervention programs and strong family and teacher support. Now a successful freelance marketing and public relations consultant, she is passing her good fortune on to children with hearing loss in Vietnam through a foundation she established, The Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss. From her first-hand experience as a volunteer at the Thuan An Center state-sponsored school in Binh Duong province, Paige learned that the teachers often do not have the training needed to work effectively with the children, resulting in many hearing impaired children failing to get the support they need in the critical early years. Working through the Global Foundation, she has embarked on a three-year initiative with Thuan An Center that will provide teacher training, as well as hearing technology. In September, Paige was invited to present the Global Foundation's work to speech and language pathology professionals visiting Vietnam as part of the United Nations People to People Citizen Ambassador Program.

PRACTITIONER
David Woodruff, AuD, CCC-A, FAAA
For David Woodruff, helping others with hearing loss goes beyond the confines of his two offices in San Diego. His commitment to making a difference extends to hearing impaired children in schools, clinics, churches, and monasteries located thousands of miles away in remote villages of Vietnam, Laos and Burma. As a volunteer and board member for Americans Helping Asian Children, Dr. Woodruff regularly donates vacations and free time to travel to Southeast Asia to treat disadvantaged children with hearing loss. In addition, he provides technical training to healthcare workers, teachers and parents regarding hearing loss and the maintenance of hearing instruments. Along with small teams of audiologists, health professionals and volunteers, Dr. Woodruff has helped thousands of children and fitted more than 4,800 hearing devices since the program's inception in 1993.

SECOND & THIRD PLACE CATEGORY WINNERS

ADULT
Scott Tankersley of Amarillo, TX
Harry Weitkemper of Columbia, MO

STUDENT
Kristin Minasian of Whittier, CA
Allison Schmidt of Somers, NY

ADVOCACY
Kelly Landsberg of Port Richey, FL
Linda O'Neal of Clovis, CA 

PRACTITIONER
Cathy Kooser, LISW of Dayton, OH
Shantell Lewis, AuD of Richmond, VA

For more information: www.oticonusa.com

PRNewswire--Sonic Innovations has been named an International CES Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree for the company's Touch hearing aid. Touch was named the Best of Innovations Honoree in the Health and Wellness category. Products entered in this prestigious program are judged by a preeminent panel of independent industrial designers, engineers and members of the media to honor outstanding design and engineering in cutting edge consumer electronics products across 36 product categories.

The prestigious Innovations Design and Engineering Awards have been recognizing achievements in product design and engineering since 1976. It is sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, the producer of the International CES and endorsed by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), the voice of industrial design, committed to advancing the profession through education, information, community, and advocacy. Products chosen as Innovations honorees reflect innovative design and engineering of the entries. Examples may include the first time various technologies are combined in a single product or dramatic enhancements to previous product designs.

The Innovations entries are judged based on the following criteria:

• Engineering qualities, based on technical specs and materials used;
• Aesthetic and design qualities, using photos provided;
• The product's intended use/function and user value;
• Unique/novel features that consumers would find attractive; and
• How the design and innovation of the product compares to other products in the marketplace.

"We are pleased to be awarded this honor from CEA for the sophisticated design and engineering of this innovative hearing device. The Touch product represents a major step forward for Sonic Innovations and our industry as a whole. In addition to its sophisticated design, Touch is incredibly small in size, has great ease of use features, and it has the best moisture resistance of any receiver-in-canal product on the market," said Sonic Innovations CEO Sam Westover.

Touch is available at three technology levels and comes in a choice of five base colors and 15 accent color clips. The three Touch products are readily identified by the number of processing channels. Touch 6 has six channels and two programs, Touch 12 has 12 channels and three programs, and Touch 24 has 24 channels, four programs and voice alerts. Westover noted that the Touch products incorporate many of the sound processing technologies present in Sonic Innovations' Velocity™ series of hearing solutions. Touch provides natural sound quality, superior noise reduction and the finest directionality, driven by Sonic's unique DIRECTIONALfocus® technology.

Sonic Innovations' Touch will be displayed at the 2010 International CES, which runs Jan. 7-10, 2010 in Las Vegas, NV. The Innovations Design and Engineering Showcase will feature honorees by product category in the Grand Lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center and will also be featured at CES Unveiled: The Official Press Event of the International CES on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010.

Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering honoree products are featured on www.CESweb.org/Innovations, which lists product categories, as well as each product name, manufacturer information, designer, description, photo, and URL.

For more information: www.sonici.com

With a 933 percent 3-year growth rate in revenues, Audigy Group LLC was named the 223^rd fastest growing private company in the United States by Inc. 500. The Washington-based hearing care management company for elite private audiology practices recorded revenues of $6.1 million in 2008, and is on track to top $10 million in 2009 for a growth rate of over 65 percent.

The company has grown from its inception in 2004 to 75 employees, adding 40 new employees in 2009 alone. Founded by CEO Brandon Dawson, Audigy assists independent hearing practice owners to preserve and grow their businesses in an increasingly competitive environment of industry consolidation by corporations.

The Inc. 500 award continues a string of significant 2009 awards received by the company. The Portland Business Journal in its annual survey ranked Audigy the No. 1 fastest growing Oregon and SW Washington private company for 2008 and No. 16 for 2009. Additionally, Chris Roberts, CFO of Audigy, was awarded 2009 CFO of the Year for small companies by the same organization.

For more information: www.audigypro.com

Four New Orleans elementary schools will be the sites this month for "safe listening" performances of the "Listen to Your Buds" public education campaign of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

The Buds campaign educates the very young about practicing safe listening habits, such as turning down the volume and taking listening breaks, when they use personal audio technology. Recent research, both in the United States and abroad, indicates that misuse of the technology has the potential to cause noise-induced hearing loss.

New Orleans native Charmaine Neville will entertain--and educate--students during "Buds" concerts at four schools-Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. at St. Mary's Academy and St. Benedict the Moor, respectively, and Thursday, Nov. 19, at Sarah T. Reed Elementary at 10 a.m. and Joseph Craig Elementary at 1 p.m. Neville will weave the Buds message of safe listening throughout her performances.

Born into the third generation of the New Orleans legendary musical family, Charmaine started out backing up the Neville Brothers and went on to perform with the survivors, a band whose alumni list includes Harry Connick Jr. and Bobby McFerrin. Featured on the popular CD New Orleans Playground, Charmaine Neville is a Putumayo Kids ambassador and favorite. A division of Putumayo World Music, Putumayo Kids is committed to introducing children to the world through fun, upbeat collections of music.

"We are looking forward to bringing our safe listening message to local New Orleans children on the eve of our Annual Convention," according to ASHA President Sue Hale. ASHA's Convention will be held November 19-21 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and will feature educational sessions on a broad range of human communication topics, including the risk of hearing loss from personal audio devices. "We're pleased to have the opportunity to deliver an important health message to local children in a fun and engaging way, and hopefully teach them good listening habits in the process," continues Hale.

ASHA will present its Buds performances in collaboration with The Parents' Choice Foundation and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Previous "Buds" concerts have been held in Chicago, IL, Washington, DC, and Glendale, CA.

ASHA's Listen to Your Buds campaign sponsors include the Consumer Electronics Association, Califone International and Tune A Fish Records.

For more information: www.asha.org, www.listentoyourbuds.org

With an estimated 2.5 million school-aged children in the United States having mild or unilateral hearing loss, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has made hearing screening of public school students the focus of its latest podcast.

Without the proper identification and treatment that can result from screenings, more than one-third of school-aged children with mild or unilateral hearing loss are projected to fail at least one grade in school. Moreover, the ASHA podcast reports that a child with mild hearing loss can miss as much as 50 percent of what goes on in a classroom.

It also notes that, although they are very important, hearing screenings of school-aged children vary nationally in standards, quality and availability. Recently, such screenings were suspended altogether in New York City, a decision that ASHA is advocating to reverse.

The podcast features Pam Mason, an audiologist and ASHA's director of audiology professional practices; ASHA member Laurie Hanin, PhD, who is the executive director of the Center for Hearing and Communication in New York City; and Jim Potter, ASHA's director of government relations and public policy.

The newest ASHA podcast also gives parents helpful tips for monitoring the hearing of their children and for advocating for routine school hearing screening programs. Consumers are invited to call 800-638-8255 and to visit takeaction.org to find out more about this critical care and what they can do to see that hearing screenings are provided.

For more information: www.asha.org

Oticon Vigo Connect, a new family of high performing hearing devices in the mid-price range, opens an exciting world of wireless freedom to people with mild to severe-to-profound hearing loss. A rare combination of small size and amazing performance, new Vigo Pro Connect and Vigo Connect take the benefits of the popular Vigo family to the next level with intuitive and easy-to-use wireless connectivity for a closer-to-natural listening experience. In combination with the Oticon ConnectLine system, Vigo Connect's Bluetooth capabilities allow seamless, direct access to an array of modern communication and entertainment devices.

"Vigo Connect offers more value than any hearing instrument in its price category," says Oticon Inc. President Peer Lauritsen. "Vigo Connect builds on the strengths of the Vigo family--including great sound quality, high-end performance and a wide range of small, discreet styles that are almost invisible in the ear. In addition, Vigo Connect provides direct, wireless access to the communication and entertainment devices that are essential 'links' to modern everyday life."

With a fitting range of up to 110dB, Vigo Connect is based on Oticon's ultra-fast RISE platform that delivers more bandwidth (8 kHz) and significantly higher levels of processing power. Vigo Connect's features include advanced noise management and directionality for a richer, more natural sound picture and best-in-class intelligibility.

Wireless connectivity adds an extra dimension to the performance of the Vigo family. In combination with Oticon's state-of-the-art ConnectLine system, Vigo Pro Connect and Vigo Connect directly access a complete array of everyday communication and entertainment devices, including landline and mobile phones, televisions, stereos, PCs, and MP3 players. Users simply touch a button on the small, sleek Streamer accessory to seamlessly transition from one communication device to another. Users enjoy high quality audio streaming binaurally through their hearing devices--listening at their own preferred volume.

The Vigo Connect family is designed to provide hearing care professionals and users with more choices. With a fitting range of up to 110dB HL, choices include the exceptional comfort, discreteness and sound quality of the slim and elegant RITE style and a full selection of custom instruments, including ITE, ITC, MIC, and CIC. The RITE Power and BTE Power style address the needs of Power users for superior performance, wireless connectivity and discreet modern design.

"With its unmatched sound quality, wireless connectivity, full spectrum of style options, and value-pricing, the Vigo Connect family has the potential to provide more people with the benefits of modern hearing care," states Lauritsen.

The new Vigo Connect family will be available starting November 9th.

For more information: www.oticonusa.com

Ida Institute has selected Paul Peryman, PhD of the Van Asch Deaf Education Center in Sumner, Christchurch, New Zealand and Cindy Pichler, AuD, of Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago, IL as the winners of the Institute's "Defining the Audiogram" Challenge. The competition invited hearing care professionals around the world to share their best clinical practices for helping patients and their families understand and appreciate the implications of the simple audiogram. Members of the Ida Institute advisory board reviewed and selected the winning submissions. Peryman and Pichler's innovative approaches earned them each an all-expense-paid trip to one of the nonprofit organization's upcoming seminars in Skodsborg, Denmark. The two audiologists shared the belief that explaining hearing loss in easy-to-understand terms that relate to familiar, everyday listening situations was a far more effective solution to helping patients understand their unique hearing loss than attempting to explain the audiogram's bewildering series of lines and circles. Ida Institute will share the best practices and unique techniques used by the two audiologists on idainstitute.com.

"Discussion among Ida Institute seminar participants about the challenges associated with explaining the audiogram to empower patients to address their hearing loss from an informed position was the catalyst for the call for submissions," states Ida Institute Director Lise Lotte Bundesen. "What we learned from our "Defining the Audiogram" Challenge was the incredible range of inventiveness and empathy practitioners use to facilitate understanding and instill confidence in patients and their caregivers."

The winning audiologists chose to illustrate their approach to explaining hearing loss using scenarios involving children with hearing loss and their parents. "It is the concept of hearing loss as depicted on the audiogram that is a potentially troubling one to interpret and convey to parents," explains Peryman. His recommendations include techniques to demonstrate to parents that they are a valued and integral part of the diagnostic and rehabilitative process combined with opportunities for parents to experience hearing test procedures first-hand. Emphasizing what a child can hear as opposed to what he/she cannot hear is also key. "Clinical experience at the Van Asch Deaf Education Centre found that it may be easier for parents to initially relate to the increased level of signals needed to excite the auditory nervous system in their child than it is to relate to the concept of hearing loss," he notes.

In her submission, Pichler good naturedly took issue with the Ida Institute's challenge to define the audiogram. "Why should we have to explain the audiogram at all?" she asked. "You'll notice that I don't explain the audiogram at all. My message needs to be what the problem is, what it means, and what we might do about it. I need to present the message in very simple terms that increase the ability of the patient to understand what is going on and what is recommended." Pichler provides an animated and upbeat "script" that is effective for families trying to process new information about their children's conductive hearing loss and easily adapted for patients of all ages and situations.

For more information: www.idainstitute.com

Newswise--Becoming "hard of hearing" is a standard but unfortunate part of aging: A syndrome called age-related hearing loss affects about 40 percent of people over 65 in the United States, and will afflict an estimated 28 million Americans by 2030.

"Age-related hearing loss is a very common symptom of aging in humans, and also is universal among mammal species, and it's one of the earliest detectable sensory changes in aging," says Tomas Prolla, a professor of genetics and medical genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Prolla is senior author of a paper in PNAS that looks at the genetic roots of this type of hearing loss, which is not due to noise exposure.

The study has identified a gene that is essential to age-related hearing loss, a condition marked by deaths of sensory hair cells and spiral ganglion neurons in the inner ear. These cells are at the heart of the conversion of vibrations into nerve impulses that the brain can decipher, and yet these cells cannot be regenerated.

In mice, the new study shows that the damage starts with free radicals, which are key suspects in many harmful changes of aging. Free radicals trigger a process called apoptosis, or programmed cell death, by which damaged cells "commit suicide." Apoptosis is often beneficial, as it eliminates cells that may be destined for cancer.

Before the study, it was already clear that "aging was associated with a major loss of hair cells and ganglion cells, so it was plausible that programmed cell death was playing a role in hearing loss," says Prolla. "We also thought that oxidative stress--the presence of free radicals--contributes to age-related hearing loss, so we put two and two together and showed that oxidative stress does indeed induce age-related hearing loss."

In mice, Prolla and the study's first author, Shinichi Someya, a postdoctoral researcher at UW-Madison, found that the suicide program was operating in hair cells and spiral ganglion neurons, and that the suicide program relied on activity in a suicide gene called bak.

Activity of the bak gene "is required for the development of age-related hearing loss," says Someya. "The strongest evidence for this was the fact that a strain of mice that did not have the bak gene did not show the expected hearing loss at 15 months of age."

In one way, the new results are a bit unusual, Prolla admits. "In most genetic diseases, it's a mutation that causes the disease. In our study, a mutation in the gene prevents the disease."

Someya says he measured mouse hearing with an instrument like that used to test hearing in newborns. "It's a standard test for infants. We place electrodes on the skin above the brain, and when they respond to a sound an electric current is generated from the brainstem, and we detect that current."

The new results, obtained with collaboration from the universities of Florida, Washington and Tokyo, hint that the oxidative stress and hearing loss may be preventable. Although antioxidants have been widely used, with generally disappointing results, to prevent free-radical damage in aging, Someya and Prolla found that two oral antioxidants were effective. "One of the most surprising findings was that these two--alpha lipoic acid and coenzyme Q10--were very specific in their protection against apoptosis and hearing loss," says Prolla.

Programmed cell death is triggered by mitochondria, small units inside cells that process energy for the cell. But when the mitochondria receive signals indicating that the cell is damaged, they break up and begin the process of apoptosis.

Confirming the importance of mitochondria in hearing loss, both of the helpful antioxidants are known to make mitochondria less responsive to oxidative stress.

The study provides strong evidence linking free radicals, the bak gene and hearing loss, Prolla says. "We wanted to know how oxidative stress leads to deaths of these critical cells, and when we looked at mice without bak, they were entirely protected from age-related hearing loss. One of our major findings is that free-radical damage does not kill the cell directly, but rather induces the pathway to programmed cell death. Mice without bak still accumulated oxidative damage, but did not undergo programmed cell death, did not lose hair cells or these neurons, and their hearing was fine."

Bak may play a role in other age-related conditions, Prolla adds. "This study focused on hearing loss, but there is evidence that other diseases associated with the loss of neurons, like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, are associated with oxidative stress, and it's possible that the bak protein plays a role in apoptosis in those diseases as well," he says. "We are very intrigued by the possibility that blocking bak may have broader utility against neurodegeneration."

American Hearing Aid Associates (AHAA) will hold its 14^th Annual Convention Feb. 10-13, 2010, in Dallas at the Gaylord Texan Resort. More than 450 hearing health care professionals--associates in the AHAA network--and others are expected to attend the convention.

Says AHAA President Tina Soika, "We are going to immerse our Associates at this convention into practice-changing ideas and tools that work. They will return home more ready than ever to improve all aspects of their practices, especially growing revenue."

The convention's program will offer nearly 40 ASHA, AAA and IHS-approved sessions covering all aspects of running a practice. The sessions will cover the interests of CEOs/owners, directors of operations/practice managers, hearing health care providers, telemarketing/front office personnel, and practice development representatives in all sizes and types of practices.

Using a new format, this year's program will feature highly interactive, hands-on workshops where attendees will share ideas and experiences with one another more than listen to solo presenters.

Heavy emphasis will be placed on showing associates how to gain the most benefit from AHAA's Navigator online service. Introduced in 2009, Navigator gives Associates 16 links to tools a practice owner/manager needs to develop, focus and drive measureable objectives in growing the practice.

Many major manufacturers will be exhibiting. Several of them also will present workshops designed to bring attendees up to date on the latest changes and trends in technology and products.

For more information: Carolyn Wolff, 800-984-3272, ext. 355

People whose lives have been touched by hearing loss are hungry for answers to questions that constantly run through their mind. How do I find the resources I need? Who can help me advocate for my child? Which amplified phone is right for me? These questions and many more can sometimes go unanswered while an individual waits to meet with his or her hearing healthcare professional. Or worse, the questions go unanswered because the person does not live in proximity to a clinician with the necessary expertise and experience. Addressing this need for increased access to hearing healthcare professionals, the Center for Hearing and Communication announces the launch of "Ask the Experts."

"Ask the Experts" is an online resource that puts consumers directly in touch with CHC clinicians and other staff members with the appropriate expertise to answer their questions and direct them to the resources they're looking for. The information is exchanged typically within 24 hours via an online Q&A forum housed on www.chchearing.org. Questions and answers that pertain to a topic of universal interest are posted on the site for all visitors to read. The privacy of individuals submitting questions is carefully protected.

"Ask the Experts" is just one of the innovative features on the Center for Hearing and Communication's new website at www.chchearing.org. The site functions as both an information resource and a marketing tool, promoting CHC's wide array of hearing and communication services for people of all ages with hearing loss. Says Laurie Hanin, CHC's executive director, "Our new site is an interactive resource addressing the needs not only of the one million people with hearing loss in New York City, but also the 38 million people across the country who now have access to our renowned team of clinicians. We recognize the importance of giving people with hearing loss the ability to communicate with us online, because communication over the phone can often be a challenge."

"Ask the Experts" is a service of the Family Resource Center at CHC that is made possible by the generous support of The Bodman Foundation, the J. C. Kellogg Foundation, the Milbank Foundation for Rehabilitation, the Morgan Stanley Foundation/VIP Program, and The Thomas and Agnes Carvel Foundation.

The Center for Hearing and Communication, formerly League for the Hard of Hearing, is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for infants, children and adults with all degrees of hearing loss. Established in 1910, CHC accomplishes its mission by providing hearing rehabilitation and human services for people who are hard of hearing or deaf, and their families, regardless of age, ability to pay, or mode of communication, and by striving to empower consumers to achieve their potential.

Sonova Holding AG announced that it has entered into a share purchase agreement with the shareholders of Advanced Bionics Corporation, Los Angeles, CA. Advanced Bionics is a global leader in developing and manufacturing cochlear implant systems. The purchase consideration of $489 million will be fully paid in cash. Subject to regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close within the coming three months.

Highlights of the transaction:

• Sonova becomes the first global hearing healthcare company with a strong worldwide presence in hearing instruments and cochlear implant systems;
• Sonova enters into the high growth market of cochlear implant systems with expected market growth rates of 10 to 15 percent;
• Sonova's strong commitment to innovation will boost Advanced Bionics' position as an innovation leader in the cochlear implant industry;
• The Sonova Group targets to improve the performance of Advanced Bionics, doubling sales and increasing EBITA margin to 20 percent or beyond within the coming 3 to 5 years; and
• With all cash consideration of $489 million plus transaction costs of CHF 10 million totaling CHF 510 million at current exchange rates, the transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings per share (EPS) before transaction-related amortization in the second full year after closing.

The acquisition represents a strategic expansion into the area of cochlear implants for the Sonova Group.

"With this transaction Sonova adds a new source of sustainable business growth and enhances its position as the leading provider of hearing healthcare solutions", said Valentin Chapero, CEO of the Sonova Group. "With all its brands, Sonova will offer the most comprehensive and innovative product and service portfolio covering any customer need for most types of hearing problems."

Advanced Bionics will remain an independent business unit within the Group but will share all the integral elements that have been driving the success of Sonova over the last decade: Global sales coverage, outstanding service orientation, world class supply chain, a high innovation rate, and a strong implementation culture.

For more information: www.sonova.com/en/investors/advancedbionics/Pages/default.aspx

Newswise--"Reaching out, not building walls" might be one way to characterize the process of social networking. It is also an apt description of the core competitive strategy of firms in the social networking services industry, as new research by Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business professors shows.

In what they believe is the first systematic empirical study of its kind, faculty members Devi Gnyawali and Patrick Fan investigated how social networking companies compete and how their competitive moves affect overall firm performance.

Reaching out to third parties

"Unlike traditional industries where firms try to build walls and protect advantages, firms in emerging digital industries, in general, and social networking companies, in particular, reach out to third-party developers and other partners," Gnyawali and Fan say. The firms undertake a variety of actions with these outside parties to "co-create value" in order to attract, retain and satisfy their own users or customers and improve their companies' performance.

Social networking firms have changed the way people communicate and socialize with each other, the professors note. Departing from previous computer-based communication systems for e-mail and online forums, companies such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter use web-based software to connect users with friends, family members, business partners, or other individuals through such formats as text chat, messaging, video, voice, file sharing, and blogging, in addition to mail and discussion groups.

The professors, along with doctoral student James Penner, have written an article about their work for a special, "digital systems and competition" issue of Information Systems Research, one of the top two journals in the information systems field.

Their findings, Gnyawali and Fan hope, will help managers develop appropriate strategies. "A better understanding of the nature of competition and implications of competitive actions will allow managers to think in nuanced ways about how to successfully compete in this rapidly changing industry," the researchers wrote.

Why study social networking?

Gnyawali, an associate professor of management who specializes in studying how firms compete, collaborate and create competitive advantage, and Fan, an associate professor of accounting and information systems and a specialist in data mining, business intelligence and social computing, decided to focus on the social networking industry because of its unusual characteristics; the widespread popularity of its services; and its "explosive growth" over the past three years, which has made it "one of the most dynamic segments of the Web 2.0 industry."

Gnyawali notes that a 2008 Morgan Stanley report showed that 6 of the top 10 Internet sites are social--none of which were on the list in 2005--and that Facebook and YouTube had more page views than Google or Yahoo. Facebook has more than 250 million active users, while MySpace has nearly 130 million active users, according to the companies' web sites.

The need for more scholarship on firms in the digital industry, which use the Internet and information technology to provide goods and services, was another reason for pursuing work here. Information systems scholars, Fan says, have examined the strategic roles information systems and information technology play in a firm, but "few scholars have systematically and holistically examined the digital industry's competition dynamics."

Management scholars, Gnyawali says, have extensively studied competition dynamics, but their research has focused on publicly traded companies in such traditional industries as airline, pharmaceutical, steel, and computer. "Thus, while newer forms of industries are emerging, and digital technologies are becoming very critical in these industries, we don't know the ways in which firms in such emerging digital industries compete," he says. "Our research addresses this critical issue."

Methodology

Building on research in both information systems and strategic management, Gnyawali and Fan developed a conceptual model to examine competition in the social networking industry from two strategic perspectives: "value co-creation," meaning how firms "create perceived and real benefits for their users by engaging other parties as partners and contributors"; and "repertoire of competitive actions," which refers to the volume as well as complexity or diversity of competitive moves.

The researchers analyzed their model with archival data they collected on the competitive actions of the 52 largest firms (in terms of membership). They identified 15,000 news reports on these firms over three years: 2005, 2006 and 2007. A computerized text analysis software program they developed flagged key action words in the news reports, Fan says, and "allowed us to eliminate reports that did not contain purposeful competitive intent, such as an announcement of an annual report filing." The software program also recorded the date, source and number of words in the article.

Competitive actions tend to be industry-specific, Gnyawali says. "So we took extensive steps to ensure that our list of actions is highly relevant to the social networking industry." These included examining business press and industry-specific research and seeking feedback from industry experts. The researchers ended up identifying 47 different categories of actions, which they defined for coding and analysis purposes. "We made sure that our list is both comprehensive and relevant, so that it can be used by other researchers for further studies on the industry," he says.

Lacking access to firm revenues, income and other financial data, the professors used page views as a measure of firm performance. A market-based performance metric such as user traffic, they note, is the best alternative, especially in an industry with strong network effects and where ad-based revenue generation increases with page views. Other researchers, they point out, also view web traffic as an important nonfinancial indicator of Internet firms' performance.

Findings

Their results, Gnyawali and Fan say, show that "firms that undertake value co-creation actions enhance their performance." Furthermore, firms that undertake a complex action repertoire--strategic actions on diverse fronts, rather than "a large volume" of actions or a concentration of efforts in a few areas--achieve better performance.

Explaining the first finding, Gnyawali says "social networking firms create value by leveraging the knowledge and expertise of third-party developers to develop applications that will help entice, engage and delight users, and by collaborating with other companies to extend the usefulness of the social networking firms' sites through product development, new market penetration, and pursuit of new uses of existing products and services."

Regarding their finding on action repertoire, Gnyawali says firms that undertake complex actions make it more difficult for their competitors to understand the intent and consequences of the various actions, the researchers argue. "Moreover, because each type of action requires commitment of different types of resources," Gnyawali says, "rivals find it very difficult to match a firm's complex actions--which provides a window of advantage to the firm." Lastly, a firm that undertakes many types of actions is likely to have developed capability in multiple areas and can leverage these capabilities to offer better products and services and attract more users.

Why is Facebook growing so quickly?

The surge in recent years of Facebook relative to then market dominant player MySpace, the researchers note, highlights the impact of the complexity of actions on firm market performance. MySpace had "first-mover" advantage in music downloading and grew tremendously--more than 300 percent (in pageviews) from November 2005 to November 2006--as it expanded its music, photo and video capabilities. However, its growth has since slowed, while Facebook undertook competitive moves on multiple fronts: being more inclusive in membership, being the first to open the platform to allow co-development with third-party vendors, actively pursuing alliances and continuously creating and improving services.

Working with complex technologies and rapidly changing business environments, social networking firms must constantly look out for sources of advantage, Gnyawali says. "The rules of the game could be changed by one firm's major competitive actions, and firms need to keep innovating their products and services in order to engage and lock in customers."

Enabling future research

Their study, Fan says, suggests many possibilities for future research. "We examined all alliance actions and did not distinguish among competitor, supplier and cross-industry alliances. As the industry evolves and alliances become more pronounced, it would be interesting to examine the extent to which alliances are made with direct competitors and what implications they have for firm strategy and performance."

Future research, he says, "could delve deeper into the role of users and advertisers in value co-creation, and the role of information systems and information technology in collaborative and competitive actions."

Limitations of the study

The researchers note several limitations of their study. The private nature of the social networking industry was a major obstacle, preventing them from collecting a variety of information, including "meaningful financial measures of firm performance," or using common, firm-level control variables such as assets, market capitalization, or number of employees.

They were unable to obtain information on advertisers and the amount they paid to social networking firms and were unable to gather data on users--a significant shortcoming, the researchers felt, given the important role that "experienced and passionate users" play in improving the quality of social networking services. "Having data on how users are engaged in the value co-creation process would have produced even more interesting findings," the researchers note.

Nevertheless, their study has produced interesting insights about the pattern of firm competitive actions in an emerging and rapidly growing industry, Gnyawali and Fan say, and has important implications for future research and management practice.

This article was published in the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business Fall 2009 magazine.

PRNewswire--With financial backing from a leading nonprofit supporter of military medical research, medical device manufacturer Neuro Kinetics Inc. announced that it is collaborating with the U.S. Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory (USAARL) at Fort Rucker, AL, and three other military medical facilities in a comprehensive research project to improve early diagnosis and treatment of mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI).

The coordinated research focuses on using Neuro Kinetics' I-Portal® NOTC (Neuro-Otologic Test Center) system to evaluate and characterize vestibular, auditory and oculomotor conditions in soldiers suffering from hard-to-detect mTBI as a result of blast exposure. An estimated 20 percent of soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq suffer from mTBI.

The other military medical facilities in the research project are Tripler Army Medical Center (Hawaii), The Traumatic Brain Injury Warrior Resilience and Recovery Center at Fort Campbell (Kentucky) and Walter Reed Army Medical Center (D.C.).

The military researchers' purchase of NKI's I-Portal NOTC system was supported in part by grants from the T.R.U.E. Research Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that assists the military medical community.

The project is expected to run until July 2010.

"It is our honor to be working closely with military researchers on this critically important effort," said J. Howison Schroeder, NKI president and CEO. "Research suggests that the oculometric measurements included in the I-Portal NOTC's battery of tests can provide effective neuro-physiologic and vestibular-auditory evaluations for mTBI, and that, in turn, can improve early screening and treatment.

"Our wounded soldiers deserve the best care possible and we are proud to be playing our part to deliver exactly that."

The NKI-military collaboration comes as a number of U.S. military facilities have installed the I-Portal NOTC system to improve diagnosis and monitoring of returning brain-injured military personnel. Numerous other federal government medical facilities, including those operated by the Veterans Administration and the National Institutes of Health, also rely on NKI equipment for conducting daily clinical evaluations of patients, as well as undertaking a wide range of research projects.

For more information: www.neuro-kinetics.com

Avada Audiology and Hearing Care Centers, operating subsidiary of Hearing Healthcare Management Inc. (HHM), has just introduced the Direct Link--a new hearing instrument accessory that works in conjunction with the Blulink and Arris PHD Plus to provide a wireless solution for TV viewing and landline telephone usage.

The Direct Link overcomes the limitations of streaming from TVs and landline phones. Now, with the use of the Direct Link in conjunction with the Blulink or Arris PHD Plus patients can stream TV and landline phones directly into both of their hearing instruments simultaneously. The Direct Link works with Streamer not only to access the TV and landline phone, but also cell phones, MP3 players, and radio. The Streamer can pair with up to eight devices to stream music, phone calls, TV, etc. directly into a patient's ears to provide a seamless listening experience.

 "Connectivity with the world of sounds is crucial, whether it's with direct sounds such as human voices and environmental sounds, or with remote sounds such as land line phones, TVs, cell phones and MP3 players. The Direct Link system offers a simple, single solution for those want to stay directly connected," says Steve W. Barlow, chief executive officer of Avada.

Avada has a complete line of private label products that are utilized in all its locations and are also available to Avada members for their exclusive use. Current families of products include: Blulink,ä HearO,ä PHD,ä and Aura.ä

For more information: 800-355-5840, www.avada.com, www.blulink.com, www.arrisphd.com.

PR Log--Advanced Bionics recently announced the launch of its Bionic Ears for Kids kit, which contains the newest addition to the Bionic Family, Buddy's younger sister, Melody, as well as several newly developed accessories that will make living with a cochlear implant easier, more convenient and more comfortable for pediatric patients. Entire kits were delivered to audiologists and clinicians at over 200 centers nationwide. An additional 100 centers received the company's latest child-centered brochure, Bionic Ears for Kids.

"We are committed to improving the quality of life of children impacted by hearing loss," says Jeff Greiner, CEO of Advanced Bionics. "These new accessories are designed to provide more wearing options for our younger patients and more peace of mind for their parents."

The launch is focused on the unveiling of AB's newest mascot, Melody, a plush monkey that is given to children receiving cochlear implants to comfort them through the process of the surgery, activation and rehabilitation. Melody, who has two bionic ears, joins her older brother Buddy, who is implanted with one, on their journeys to hearing. The doll's musical moniker is a tribute to Advanced Bionics' industry-leading commitment to software upgrades for its "bionic ears" that enable superior music listening. The company's Harmony® HiResolution® Bionic Ear System offers an advanced listening experience with the 120 spectral bands necessary for deaf patients to go beyond deciphering simple speech to hearing--and enjoying--music.

The following new accessories, created to help little ears hear big, were included in the kit:
•   A Platinum Speech Processor (PSP) Bilateral Harness, available in pink or blue, that holds and protects two processors;
•   A Bionic Buddy Critter Clip that attaches to a child's clothing so if the processor falls off the ear, it won't go too far;
•   A Snuggie that securely fits over little ears to keep the active child's processor in place;
•   The Adventures of Bionic Buddy DVD that explains the cochlear implant process to children in a fun, cartoon format.

In addition, the company's Bionic Ear Association (BEA) serves as a valuable support network with a mission is meet the needs of children with cochlear implants and their families. The BEA offers tools, educational materials and training to help children reach their maximum hearing potential. Some of these programs include:
•   http://www.HearingJourney.com, an online community forum that serves as an instant online connection with other cochlear implant families;
•   Tools For Schools (TFS), a program designed to provide school and hearing professionals with the educational and rehabilitative resources needed to foster a child's auditory, speech and language development;
•   The Listening Room,™ a support Web site for parents and professionals that provides ideas, materials and guidance to promote active listening and language stimulation.

Children who are born deaf or lose their hearing before the age of 3 can experience a significant delay in language development. Parents who choose to implant their children at an early age are taking a decisive step toward narrowing the language gap between their child and their normal-hearing peers.

"By age 3, children need to hear approximately 30,000 words a day to develop the language skills necessary to succeed in school," Greiner says. "The more parents know about the benefit of early implantation, the more willing they are to implant their young children to provide them a better future."

Williams Sound, a manufacturer and supplier of hearing assistance products worldwide, announces the appointment of Tony Strong to the new position of national sales manager.  

Strong brings 15-plus years of sales experience in multiple industries and selling situations, including the audio-visual marketplace. He has traveled nationally as a keynote speaker and has extensive experience managing sales rep networks, delivering sales training programs and working as an independent consultant assisting business professionals in maximizing their sales processes.

"Tony is a sales professional who connects people and ideas with positive impact," says Doreen Ingebrigtsen, director of sales at Williams Sound. "He is well-versed in maximizing results generated by direct sales, manufacturers' rep networks and distributors. Williams Sound is fortunate to have someone of Tony's knowledge, energy and personal integrity driving our domestic sales momentum."

Strong looks forward to charting new sales growth opportunities in the U.S. and building on the outstanding reputation of service and product quality for which Williams Sound is known. 

For more information: www.williamssound.com.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates the Wikipedia(r) online encyclopedia, are joining forces to make health and science information more accessible and reliable. This collaboration is the first of its kind for both organizations.

"NIH works to ensure that the information it provides on science and health is of the highest quality and reaches the widest audience," said John Burklow, NIH associate director for communications and public liaison. "We look forward to this opportunity to collaborate with the Wikimedia Foundation and participate in a resource that is used by millions of people around the world."

On July 16, NIH will host Wikimedia staff and volunteers working in the sciences for an all-day event on its Bethesda campus. Participants will learn about the philosophy and mechanics of Wikipedia and will begin what is hoped to be a long-term dialogue aimed at improving public knowledge about health, science and medicine. The international foundation has never before worked with a federal agency or a health sciences institution.

"Wikipedia Academies are public outreach events, usually lasting one or two days, aimed at engaging academics and other subject-matter experts who are not familiar with wiki culture or online communities," said Frank Schulenburg, head of public outreach for the Wikimedia Foundation. "In presentations and workshops, experienced Wikipedia authors teach the participants how to contribute to Wikipedia and orient the audience to Wikipedia's structures and community policies."

"We're incredibly excited about our first official Wikipedia Academy in the United States," said Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation. "With the broad range of experts from the National Institutes of Health, we see a great opportunity for increasing the quality of all health-related information on Wikipedia, benefitting users of Wikipedia from all over the world." Wikipedia contains nearly 13.5 million articles written in over 250 languages. In May, it served over 315 million unique visitors. The site manages, on average, more than 14 million page views per hour.

To satisfy the public's growing need for reliable health information, NIH and the Wikimedia Foundation want to increase the availability of accurate medical and health information available to the public. At the same time, they hope to establish strategies to interlace the distinct cultures of Wikipedia and the research community.

After the Wikipedia Academy, NIH subject matter experts will be able to contribute to Wikipedia and also help develop best practices for future sessions. Instructions about how to contribute, including video of the Wikipedia Academy at NIH, will be available on the NIH and the Wikipedia websites for scientists across the country.

Wikipedia is an international online encyclopedia written collaboratively by volunteers. For more information: www.wikipedia.org.

NIH includes 27 institutes and centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information: www.nih.gov.

Newswise--A new review of existing research says there is little evidence to support mandatory hearing-loss prevention programs at the workplace.

Workers could simply wear earplugs and other devices that protect hearing, but even those are not always effective, the review authors found.

In the big picture, "We still rely too much on hearing protection, which is not sufficient," says review lead author Jos Verbeek, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in Kuopio, Finland.

An estimated nine million American workers experience exposure to high levels of noise at the workplace. People who work in construction, manufacturing and mining jobs are at especially high risk of losing their hearing.

"It's a very common workplace injury and it's very invisible," says Deanna Meinke, an associate professor of audiology at the University of Northern Colorado. "It takes a while for it to get bad enough for people to pay attention." She has no affiliation with the review.

Verbeek and colleagues searched for studies that examined strategies to prevent hearing loss in the workplace. They found 21 studies that they deemed worthy of inclusion in the review.

The review appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, which is a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

Only one study looked at workplaces--in this case, U.S. coalmines--that directly reduced exposure to noise because of legislation. It found that the noise level fell, but the review authors reported that the quality of the study is low.

Fourteen studies with 75,672 participants looked at prevention programs, such as noise monitoring, and another six with 169 participants examined specific hearing-protection devices like earplugs.

Studies that examined prevention programs had mixed results. Some studies showed that workers still had a three-fold risk of hearing loss compared to workers not exposed to noise, in spite of a prevention program.

Other studies deemed to be of lower quality showed no difference in risk of hearing loss among those with or without protection devices.

Why don't devices like earplugs and earmuffs work well? "It is difficult to wear hearing protection," Verbeek says. "In addition, if you wear plugs you have to be properly instructed, because if you don't insert them properly there is no protection."

One problem is that some employers "hand out inexpensive, one-size-fits-all earplugs," says Meinke, the Colorado professor. "You wouldn't want me to hand out one pair of work boots for everyone to wear, but some think we can do that with earplugs."

Meinke cautioned, however, that it is difficult to study hearing loss in the workplace. For one thing, the gold standard of research--comparing a group of people who use hearing protection to a group that does not--can be unethical if it means some workers are unprotected, she said.

It is also hard to tell how people's lives outside the workplace affect their hearing, she said. "You could have the best hearing-loss prevention program in the world, but if it doesn't carry on in the outside world, it won't look like it works."

What to do? Although they found little evidence that legislation is effective, the review authors call for more laws to protect workers along with "better implementation and reinforcement."

They also write that the best approach is to reduce exposure to noise, although that can be the most expensive strategy of all. "Companies make very little effort to reduce their noise exposure unless it serves another purpose," says Dr. William Daniell, associate professor at the department of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Washington.

Enclosures around noisy machines are one solution. Proper maintenance of the machines can help too, as can simple measures like soundproofing rooms to prevent echoes.

These are better solutions than buying earplugs for employees, he says.

"The problem of doing [hearing loss prevention] at the level of the person is that every person has to do it right all the time for it to work," he says. "With noise control, you solve the problem for everybody, and you don't have to depend on human nature."

For more information: http://www.cochrane.org

Two national organizations dedicated to helping deaf and hard-of-hearing students succeed in college have collaborated on a series of eight informational "tipsheets" covering topics related to hearing loss and communication access.

The series, offered by the Center on Access Technology for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology and the Postsecondary Education Programs Network (PEPNet), covers topics ranging from "How Hearing Loss Impacts Communication" to "Understanding Audiograms" and is designed for students, parents, vocational rehabilitation counselors, and service providers. Information in the tipsheets is derived from, "Hard of Hearing Students in Postsecondary Education: A Guide for Service Providers," published in 2007 by the Postsecondary Education Consortium.

"These single-topic tipsheets contain summaries of their topics, define key terminology and concepts, and offer plentiful resources for finding more information," says Dianne Brooks, director of PEPNet-Northeast. "They fill an important need, particularly for service providers at colleges that may be enrolling hard-of-hearing students for the first time", added James J. DeCaro, director of the NTID Center on Access Technology.

The series includes "Adjusting to Hearing Loss During High School," "Enhancing Communications Outside the Classroom," "How Hearing Loss Impacts Communication," "Improving Services for 500,000 College Students who are Hard of Hearing or Late Deafened," "Telecoils," "Understanding Communication Access," "Understanding Audiograms," and "Vocational Rehabilitation Services and Hard of Hearing or Late-Deafened College Students."

The Center on Access Technology at NTID utilizes or adapts new technologies for use by investigating and reporting on technologies likely to directly improve access for people who are deaf in education, work and social settings. For more information: www.ntid.rit.edu/cat.

PEPNet, a national collaboration of four regional centers supported by cooperative agreements with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, provides resources, information, in-service training, and expertise to enhance educational opportunities for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. PEPNet works with service providers in two- and four-year colleges, universities, and secondary education, community rehabilitation, continuing education, adult basic education, and vocational and technical training programs. For more information: www.pepnet.org.

Sonic Innovations has named Roxann Bonta as its new director of global training. In that capacity, she will be responsible for delivering training services and support to each of the company's divisions.

Sonic Innovations is a U.S.-based hearing aid manufacturer. The company distributes digital hearing aids in 25 countries and has offices in Canada, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom, Austria and Switzerland. Its corporate offices are located in Salt Lake City, UT.

Bonta has more than 25 years of experience in the hearing aid industry and has held a variety of positions in training, sales, marketing and operations. She has a BA degree in Audiology and Speech Pathology from Michigan State University and a master's degree in Audiology from Central Michigan University.

In her new position, Bonta will report to Sonic Innovations Vice President Administration and General Counsel Brent Shimada. He said, "One of the key components of our continued success is the identification, implementation and training to our customers and throughout our organization. By combining the training needs under one organization, I am confident we can efficiently, and with greater consistency, provide superior product, technical and sales training to our internal and external customers. Roxann will be responsible for leading this effort."

For more information: www.sonici.com

The American Tinnitus Association's (ATA) Board of Directors has appointed Michael P. Malusevic as its new executive director.

Michael has served ATA since 2004 as its director of administration and controller. "I am honored to have been appointed to this crucial position by our board of directors," says Malusevic. "I enjoy collaborating with our staff, board, researchers, and donors as we move forward toward achieving ATA's mission of curing tinnitus," he concludes.

In addition to Malusevic, the ATA Board appointed Jennifer A. DuPriest as associate executive director for the organization. DuPriest has been with ATA since 2006, heading the organization's advocacy efforts as their director of public affairs. "I look forward to working with Michael, the staff and board in this new capacity," says DuPriest. "We have created an amazing momentum over the past few years with our advocacy initiatives and I look forward to continued visibility for tinnitus on the national stage," she adds.

Gary P. Reul, EdD, ATA's retiring chief executive officer (CEO) will resume his position as chairman of the ATA Board of Directors. "I have enjoyed my time as CEO of the American Tinnitus Association immensely," says Reul. "I leave behind a committed staff that I hold in high regard and who are fully capable of carrying out ATA's mission to cure tinnitus. I look forward to working with the new staff leadership as chairman of the board."

An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from tinnitus, a chronic and debilitating condition often described as ringing, hissing or buzzing in the ears. Twelve million Americans have chronic, intrusive tinnitus that can interfere with quality of life and impact relationships with family and friends. The No. 1 known cause of tinnitus is exposure to extreme noise. This very difficult condition afflicts people of all ages, but disproportionately impacts veterans and military personnel.

Recent advances in both basic and clinical research have led tinnitus investigators to believe that a cure is within reach. The ability to use imaging technology to "see" tinnitus and locate where in the brain it is occurring has informed the direction and progress of tinnitus research over the past decade.

"The progress of research has helped guide our advocacy efforts that have already begun producing positive results such as the U.S. Department of Defense including tinnitus in its Peer Reviewed Research Program for the first time in 2008," says Malusevic. "Our efforts in Washington, D.C. have only just begun and are already producing results for the tinnitus research community," he says.

Since 2001, service-connected disability payments to veterans for tinnitus have increased by approximately 18 percent per year. Veterans are eligible to receive a 10 percent rating which currently equals approximately $119 per month for tinnitus. Additionally, tinnitus has been the No. 1 service-connected disability for returning personnel from Iraq and Afghanistan for the past two years. "At the current rate of increase, service-connected disability payments to veterans for tinnitus will top $1.1 billion by 2011 or sooner," warns DuPriest. "The responsiveness by Congress and Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health, in particular, have been truly amazing and we are thrilled that they have become partners to expedite the path to a tinnitus cure; to end suffering for both America's veterans and all who suffer worldwide," she concludes.

For more information: www.ata.org.

The TFWM Technologies for Worship Pavilion was a definite "stop, listen and learn" destination at InfoComm09 for those considering the addition of audio-visual equipment to their houses of worship. Attendees learned how to increase the outreach of their churches by incorporating the latest in audio/video, lighting and display technology. Williams Sound played a key role in this education process by providing an array of Personal PA™ transmitters and receivers, headphones, and microphones--all used live during the audio workshops in the pavilion.

"Throughout the day, every day of the exhibition, attendees used Williams Sound headsets and could easily hear our workshop instructors--even though there was a constant buzz of trade show activity all around, as well as a band playing very close by on our Quiet Stage," explains Jean Anderson, TFWM representative. "We received nothing but positive feedback from our attendees about the high quality of Williams Sound products."

According to Anderson, attendance at the TFWM Technologies for Worship Pavilion was up almost 30 percent this year, with a noticeable increase in serious buyers and those requesting formal educational opportunities. "We credit much of this year's success to our Pavilion partners, including Williams Sound, who provided our instructors with the equipment they needed to educate attendees without disruption. It was a win-win situation for everyone involved."

For more information: www.williamssound.com.

Newswise--Children and adults at risk of permanent hearing loss due to repeated exposure to loud music would turn down the sound or use ear protection if told to do so by a healthcare professional, a new Vanderbilt study performed in conjunction with MTV.com shows.

The study "Intentional Exposure to Loud Music: The 2nd MTV.com Survey Reveals an Opportunity to Educate," from Vanderbilt's Roland Eavey, MD, is being released in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Eavey conducted the research in 2007 while working at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard; it is a follow-up to his groundbreaking 2002 MTV survey.

"Hearing loss is so prevalent that it has become the norm," said Eavey, director of the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center and chair of the Department of Otolaryngology.

"We know where we are headed; it would be a miracle if we don't wind up with problems later on. Studies show that 90 percent of males age 60 and over now have hearing loss."

Nearly half of 2,500 MTV.com respondents experienced symptoms such as tinnitus or hearing loss after loud music exposure and hearing loss was considered a problem by 32 percent of respondents.

Eavey's study found the media as the most informative source about prevention of potential hearing loss and the healthcare community as the least likely source, even though respondents said they would change behavior if a healthcare professional alerted them to the problem.

"Since our last study we have learned that enough people still are not yet aware, but that more are becoming aware, especially through the help of the media," Eavey said.

"We have learned that the audience does use public health behaviors like sunscreen, designated drivers and seatbelts and that the healthcare community is the least likely source of informing patients about hearing loss, so we have an excellent opportunity to start educating patients."

As a healthcare provider, Eavey suggests alerting patients that "hearing loss from excessive sound volume is preventable . and once it happens, the loss is permanent and cannot be reversed. Even hearing aids might not help that type of hearing loss and the ringing of the ears that can occur."

Seventy-five percent of respondents owned an MP3 player, with 24 percent listening to their music player for more than 15 hours a week.

Nearly half of the respondents said they use their player at 75 percent to 100 percent of its maximum volume capacity, which exceeds government regulations for occupational sound levels.

If external sounds such as subway noise or street traffic compete with the music, then the volume is turned up even higher, according to 89 percent of persons surveyed.

"It is kind of like the bus is heading down towards the brick wall and you can see that the crash is going to come. Do you need to show that the bus crashed into the wall before you can report this? You either have to move the bus or push that wall way back. So that's what we are trying to do," Eavey said.

"We are starting off with a baseline of people from our last study who are now getting elderly, and who didn't have MP3 players, who now have hearing loss."

PRNewswire-Cochlear Americas announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Cochlear(TM) Baha(R) BP100 Sound Processor, a programmable bone conduction hearing solution. The Baha BP100 is an excellent choice for many children and adults with conductive hearing loss, mixed hearing loss or single-sided sensorineural deafness.

The Baha BP100 improves upon previous systems by offering users a bone- anchored hearing solution with advanced automatic digital signal processing. The automatic signal processing functions automatically adapt to the user's sound environment, helping to provide greater audibility and listening comfort across different listening environments. Adults are now able to transition easily to different listening environments without degradation in hearing performance. Parents enjoy greater peace of mind knowing that their child can participate all day in various daily activities, without interruption, and with greater access to speech and sounds.

"The Baha BP100 is the most advanced implantable bone conduction solution available, representing a major technological leap forward in sound processor utility and design. It's engineered to deliver better hearing performance than ever before," said Chris Smith, president of Cochlear Americas. "Users who cannot benefit from hearing aids now have the best opportunity to connect to sound and effectively communicate."

The Baha BP100 was redesigned based on feedback from recipients, parents and clinicians, resulting in a device that is sophisticated yet easy to use. It incorporates features especially designed for children including tamper-resistant battery doors, a key lock function and a titanium and plastic casing for maximum durability. The device is designed to be more water-protected than ever before, allowing children and adults to live full, active lives. For clinicians, the Cochlear Fitting Software and three distinct fitting options provide flexibility for better fitting precision than ever before.

"Direct bone conduction provides high fidelity hearing with remarkable efficiency," says John K. Niparko, MD, recent past president of the American Otological Society. "For candidates, their opportunity to experience listening through the Baha processor is unique. It's not unusual for them to experience an emotional reaction; they often 'light up' when we put the processor on them. There's a sense that they have an important connection to the world of sound that was not there previously."

For more information: 800-483-3123, www.cochlearamericas.com.

The successfully revived 2009 Jackson Hole Rendezvous, sponsored by Starkey Laboratories Inc., took place last month with more than 70 industry leaders in attendance.

"The revitalized Jackson Hole Rendezvous was a successful meld of practical information and science," said Barry Freeman, PhD, senior director of education & audiology for Starkey. "We received excellent comments from participants about the quality and depth of the information presented."
 
The meeting opened with a discussion of the state of the hearing aid industry by Carole Rogin from the Hearing Industries Association. Catherine Palmer, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh Eye and Ear Institute, followed with a fascinating talk about telehealth and telemedicine. Chris Howes, Starkey software product manager, gave a demonstration of Starkey's capabilities for fitting technology remotely. He also discussed the practical considerations when evaluating and fitting patients using telehealth strategies. Brent Edwards, PhD, vice president of research at Starkey, rounded out the first day with a presentation focusing on the science of hearing and cognition.
 
The second day of the conference had a more clinical focus, featuring three speakers: Michael Valente, PhD, from Washington University, discussed hearing aid fitting strategies for persons with unilateral hearing loss; Todd Ricketts, PhD, from Vanderbilt University, shared information about directional hearing; and Amyn Amlani, PhD, from the University of North Texas, discussed elasticity in hearing aid prices and market penetration.

Time was left for discussion about the presented topics throughout the two days. The meeting wasn't all work; the participants enjoyed social events including a float down the Snake River, a chuck wagon dinner and storytelling by cowboy audiologist Jon Richins.

For more information: http://www.starkeypro.com/

Computers Unlimited, a leading software provider for audiology and hearing aid clinics, announces the appointment of David Schaer as company president. This follows a series of enhancements to the TIMS Software product, including a new branding image and the release of the latest version of their audiology product, TIMS Software version 5.1.

Computers Unlimited (CU) was founded in 1978 by David Schaer's father, Michael Schaer, with its roots in cylinder and inventory management software for the industrial welding supply and home medical equipment industries. CU announced the transition in leadership during the annual company meeting last November. In many ways, David Schaer has been building up to this his entire career. After studying finance, operations and strategic management at Boston College, he went to work for a major Japanese bank in New York City upon graduation. In order to further his industry knowledge, Schaer joined AWISCO, a New York-based welding and gases distributor as a purchasing agent.

With newly acquired industry experience, Schaer came to work for CU in 1995 as a salesperson, learning the business from the ground up. After more than a decade with the company, Schaer has learned a number of valuable lessons, which serve him well today and will continue to do so in the future. He advocates keeping a watchful eye on the market and the changing face of technology, saying that "if a company takes its eye off its market, it's likely to get passed by."

Of foremost importance to Schaer is the customer. "We have to take care of the customer," he says. "They are the center of everything we do. The technology is almost secondary. "By focusing on their customers, CU has continually delivered progressive products and helped customers integrate new features into their operations. "Not only have we been able to provide customers with each new version, but also a path to best utilize it," Schaer proudly notes.

Mindful of where the company started three decades ago and with a vision locked firmly on the future, Schaer continues to grow CU by focusing on a core commitment: delivering timely technological enhancements that help customers operate more efficient, profitable businesses. With a passion for technology rivaled only by a passion for people, the CU staff is poised to continue that commitment for years to come.

For more information:  www.cu.net, www.timssoftware.com/audiology

The National Association of Special Equipment Distributors (NASED) held its annual meeting on April 1 in conjunction with AudiologyNow! NASED is the only national group dedicated to maintaining the highest level of standards for hearing testing equipment.

NASED President Steve Wood presided over the meeting. Committee reports were provided by Julie Renshaw, public relations; Bruce Waring, technical standards; Lance Brown, membership/business development; Scott Schulz, governance and bylaws; Greg Ollick Jr., communications; Brian Hough, educational advancement; and Kristin Wysmierski, secretary. Mr. Wood provided the Treasurer's report.

Nominations were held, and the following elections to the board were completed: Mark Becker, treasurer; Greg Ollick, Jr, president-elect. Scott Schulz and Brian Hough were confirmed for a second term in their current positions.

The NASED Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Mr. George Frye, the founder of Frye Electronics, for his development of the FONIX test box and real ear measurement systems and his pioneering work and lifelong dedication to the field of hearing aid testing equipment and standards.

In conjunction with the annual meeting, NASED certification testing was completed with successful certification of four technicians: Ryan Gall of Midlantic Technologies Group, Mark Becker of Audiomedtric Technology, Robert Chestnut of Audio Electronics and David Tribanino of Audiomed Inc.