Hearing Loss

A Proposed Protocol: Assessment for Patients with Single-Sided Deafness or Asymmetric Hearing Loss

Do you fit bone-conduction hearing aids, contralateral routing of signals (CROS) hearing aids, and/or cochlear implants to your adult patients with single-sided deafness or asymmetric hearing loss (with the four-frequency pure-tone average in the poorer ear being greater than or equal to 70 dB HL)? Curious which one is the best treatment? If so, you may be interested in a consensus paper by Van de Heyning et al (2016).

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.

CDC Releases New Vital Signs Report on Non-Occupational Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Ways You Can Participate

Sleep Apnea and Hearing Loss: Is There a Relationship?

Do you suffer from sleep apnea? Know someone who does? See patients who do? If you said "yes" to any of these questions, you might be interested in a soon-to-be-published article by Matsumura and colleagues titled Evaluation of Peripheral Auditory Pathways and Brainstem in Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Academy Collaborates with Audiology Project: Hearing Loss Link to Diabetes and Other Comorbidities

In an initiative to raise awareness within the Centers for Disease Control and other national organizations on the link between hearing loss and diabetes mellitus, the Academy has engaged in a memorandum of understanding with the Audiology Project.

The Cocktail Party Effect

2016 is over, and many of us attended celebrations of remembrance of the year's transpiration and resolutions for the year to come. Civilizations around the world have been celebrating the New Year for at least four millennia, but not always in December. Learn more about the history of New Year’s Eve (NYE).

First Zumba, Now Cycling: What’s Next?

The most recent issue of Audiology Today (November/December 2016) contained a study that evaluated the noise levels of a Zumba^© class, as well as the pre/post pure-tone hearing levels of class participants (Gaeta and John, 2016). That study found that “sound levels averaged 91.2 dBA over 60 minutes with peak values up to 101.4 dBA.” These investigators also noted a drop in pure-tone hearing levels (defined as “at least 10 dB in one or both ears for a least one audiometric frequency” tested from 1 kHz-6 kHz) after class in 81 percent of those tested (n=16).

Physical Activity and Hearing Health

Several population-based epidemiological studies have demonstrated a relationship between physical activity and odds of hearing loss. However, these data to date have been limited to cross-sectional analyses, where cause and effect cannot be discerned. In a first study of physical activity on hearing loss in animals, Han et al. (2016) examined the impact of increased physical activity in mice (CBA/CaJ) on age-related hearing loss (ARHL). In the study, mice were divided into groups based on age and physical activity.