Hearing Conservation

NORA for Hearing Loss Prevention 2019

The National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) for Hearing Loss Prevention was made available to the public July 30, 2019. The document was developed by the Hearing Loss Cross-Sector Council and was available for public comment before being finalized. The NORA councils are populated with a wide variety of stakeholders interested in the specific topic including people from Universities, large and small businesses, professional societies, government agencies, and worker organizations. The overarching goal is to improve safety and health in the workplace.

Fitness for Duty Assessments for Jobs with Essential Hearing-Critical Tasks (PART 2 OF 2)

Background

Topic(s): Hearing, Hearing Conservation, pure-tones (PTs), speech intelligibility index (SII), Hearing in Noise, Listening in Spatialized Noise-Sentences (LiSN-S), speech-in-noise, Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ), speech reception thresholds (SRTs), Hearing Impairment (HI)

Author(s):

Sigfrid D. Soli

Véronique Vaillancourt

Ross J. Roeser

Publication Issue: Audiology Today May/June 2019

Hearing Protection Use Among Adults

During 2011-2012, 21 million U.S. adults who reported no work related no exposure exhibited hearing damage suggestive of noise induced hearing loss and implicated non-occupational noise exposure as a major public health concern (Carroll et al, 2017).

Suppressors: Hearing Protection or Safety Threat?

NPR recently did a story on the Hearing Protection Act, legislation aimed at reducing restrictions on the purchase of suppressor also known as silencers. Currently, to own a suppressor you must go through a federal registration process and pay a $200 fee, the process takes about nine months. The Hearing Protection Act would eliminate the fee and not have a federal waiting period, but rather rely on state laws.

Celebrate World Hearing Day with the Academy!

World Hearing Day is designated at the First International Conference on Prevention and Rehabilitation of Hearing Impairment in Beijing, China. Celebrated each year on March 3, the day aims to raise awareness and promote ear and hearing care across the world.

Hearing Care for Adults and OTC Hearing Devices

Over the past two years, there has been a considerable national focus on hearing care in the United States. Much of this focus has been directed toward the issues of accessibility and affordability. The Academy recognizes the significance and implications that this national dialogue has for our profession and the patients we serve. Accordingly, the Academy seeks to ensure that the role of the audiologist remains central to the delivery of high-quality hearing care, while also balancing the consumer need for accessibility and affordability.

Children’s Headphones

A new analysis by The Wirecutter, a product-recommendation site owned by the New York Times, reveals that one-half of the "children's headphones" allowed levels more than 85 dBA limit considered safe by the World Health Organization. Furthermore, many of the headphones tested had design flaws that allowed children to bypass safety limits easily. The worst devices tested produced outputs of 114 dBA for music, which could potentially cause temporary or permanent hearing loss in minutes.

Benefits of Oysters

Today is National Oyster Day.

Save Your Hearing Day

May 31 ends Better Hearing and Speech Month with National #SaveYourHearingDay. It is important to take some time to learn ways to protect your hearing and that of your family. Our hearing is vital, and there are ways that hearing loss can be avoidable.

There are various reasons from which hearing loss can be the result, including the following:

2016 Student Research Forum Winners

On Friday, April 15, 2016, the five recipients of the 2016 Student Research Forum (SRF) Awards gave five outstanding podium presentations. The SRF has been in existence for about a decade, and would not be possible without funding in part by the American Academy of Audiology Foundation (AAAF) and an underwriting grant from Plural Publishing, Inc. Each year, the SRF awardees are selected through a rigorous review process from a competitive pool of exciting student research from across the country.