The Hearing Review Podcast

The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA)—the largest US advocacy group for people with hearing loss—has been busy working with the FDA, FTC, FCC, HHS, NIDCD, CTA, and the various professional and industry groups in hearing healthcare on virtually everything related to hearing and access issues. In this 26-minute podcast, HLAA Executive Director Barbara Kelley talks with Hearing Review Editor Karl Strom about:
•HLAA’s plans for its upcoming convention on June 23-25,
•Thoughts and concerns about the FDA’s proposed rules for over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids,
•The possibility of Medicare coverage for hearing aids and related services in the near future,
•How diversity, equity, and inclusion in hearing healthcare might be improved and expanded, and
•Information about the early-2022 website launch from the Industry-Consumer Alliance for Accessible Technology (ICAAT)—a collaboration between HLAA, Gallaudet University and the American Institutes for Research—that brings together technology developers with consumers who have hearing loss to create and inspire more accessible, innovative and responsive technologies.

In this 35-minute podcast, well-known hearing industry audiologist Thomas Powers, PhD, and Hearing Review Editor Karl Strom talk about four noteworthy parts of the proposed OTC hearing aid regulations:

 1) Output limits for these new devices;

2) The return-for-credit policies, and if consumers will have some kind of recourse if the hearing device doesn’t work for them;

3) The somewhat wonky area of 510k premarket clearance relative to “wear and go” vs “self-fitting” OTC devices, and why it could be important; and

4) One of the most confusing and potentially consequential parts of the FDA’s proposed regulations: the pre-emption of state laws and what this might actually mean for hearing care professionals, their practices, and state licensing boards.

 Dr Powers also speaks to labeling issues and provides his advice about how hearing care practices and their staff members might prepare for the advent of OTC hearing aids.

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Karl Strom, Chief Editor of The Hearing Review, is joined by Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver & Starkey CEO Brandon Sawalich to discuss their organization's partnership to provide life-changing health services and hearing instruments to Special Olympics athletes around the world and help train more healthcare professionals to make healthy hearing more inclusive of people with intellectual disabilities.

Starkey and Special Olympics, the international non-profit organization dedicated to transforming the lives of people with intellectual disabilities through sport, health, and education programming, announced they have signed a global partnership agreement that increases access to hearing health services worldwide for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

To read more about the partnership and find links to get involved, visit the article linked below:
https://hearingreview.com/inside-hearing/industry-news/olympics

An introduction to cochlear dead zones—or the absence of the inner hair cells in a region of the cochlea where the basilar membrane vibration can’t be detected—by perhaps the world’s foremost authority on the subject. He also describes his Threshold Equalizing Noise (TEN) Test for identifying cochlear dead zone regions. Dr Moore describes how these regions might be created, possible tell-tale signs and tip-offs for presenting in a patient, and their implications for treatment of hearing loss and hearing aid fittings. Interviewed by Hearing Review Editor Karl Strom. Originally broadcast December 8, 2008.

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Dr Moore explains the physiology of dead zones, the most successful techniques for applying amplification for these patients, and what implications his research might have on pitch perception and cochlear implant hybrids.

Dr Moore talks about what dead zones are, how he defines them, what they might look like on an audiogram, some hints patients may provide you with that could indicate their presence, and how to use Moore’s TEN Test for detecting dead zones.