Experts don’t know exactly why hearing aids are still so costly, except that companies continue to invest in improvements, and fees usually cover the services of a highly trained audiologist.

Cost reductions can’t come soon enough for those who depend on hearing aids. Barbara Kelley, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America, said her office gets a handful of calls every day from people needing help paying for hearing aids. The association refers them to the Department of Veterans Affairs, Medicaid or foundations like the Lions Club, depending on their military status and where they live. “It’s still really tough,” she said. Medicare does not cover the cost of hearing aids, though there’s a bill before Congress that would require such coverage.

Read the whole article originally posted on The New York Times.

Approximately one in every ten Americans will experience some form of tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, which occurs when you perceive sounds without sounds being present in the environment. For those affected with tinnitus, assistance for treatment may be sought.

The Hear-Ring Lab in the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Hofstra University is conducting a study to evaluate the sources of information sought by individuals with tinnitus.

Participants who qualify for and complete the survey will receive a $10 Amazon gift card mailed to their address.

If you have tinnitus and would like to participate, please take the Tinnitus Survey.

In their October Open Meeting, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released an Order to update its requirements for hearing aid compatibility and volume control on wireline and wireless telephones.

In their news release regarding this new rule, the FCC said, “Under the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act, the Commission is required to establish rules that ensure access by people with hearing loss to telephones manufactured or imported for use in the United States. With today’s action, the Commission continues its efforts to ensure that tens of millions of Americans with hearing loss have access to and can benefit from critical and modern communication technologies and services.”

This Order:

• adopts a revised volume control standard for wireline handsets to provide a more accurate measurement of voice amplification
   
• implements a provision of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act to apply all of the Commission’s hearing aid compatibility requirements to wireline telephones used with advanced communication services, including phones used with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services
   
• requires, within three years, that all wireless handsets newly certified as hearing aid compatible must include volume control suitable for consumers with hearing loss
   
• reminds manufacturers and service providers of existing outreach obligations to ensure that consumers are informed about the availability of hearing aid compatible phones.

More information on existing FCC hearing aid compatibility rules is available on the FCC website.

For more information, please contact Susan Bahr, Disability Rights Office, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, at 202-418-0573 or Susan.Bahr@fcc.gov. For those using videophones and who are fluent in American Sign Language (ASL), you may call the ASL Consumer Support Line at 844-43-2275.

With just a 15 minute survey, you can help design the tools and services that you use every day. Kantar Added Value has designed a survey to help companies build a working knowledge of how to improve technology and communications services to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and other differently abled individuals. We appreciate your opinions so please tell us all of your thoughts in this survey! And if you know a person who provides specialty care for someone with hearing loss, please send them our way as well.

Take the survey

Note: This is a sponsored survey. HLAA hosts sponsored surveys from companies or organizations interested in getting the opinion of people with hearing loss directly from our members and constituents. E-mail addresses collected when you respond to this survey will not be used in any way by HLAA or the survey provider, other than in the administration of the survey. Your email address or any other individual information will not be shared or sold to others. It will not be used for any marketing purposes, and you will not receive any email from the survey provider. HLAA and the survey provider will not keep track of your IP address.

With funding from the National Institutes of Health, Gallaudet University’s Deaf Health Communications and Quality of Life (DHCQoL) Center is conducting a national study that investigates health and quality of life outcomes in deaf and hard of hearing populations (PROMIS-DHH project). To date, the DHCQoL Center has collected data from more than 1,000 adults who are deaf or have a hearing loss who use American Sign Language. The next step is to include at least 250 more adults who are deaf or have a hearing loss and who use spoken English in this study.

The DHCQoL Center is inviting those who became deaf or hard of hearing prior to turning 13 years old and prefer spoken English to communicate to participate in the survey project. Each participant will receive a $25 American Express gift card as a gratuity. Download the study flyer for more information.

Your help with sharing this survey project would be greatly appreciated! If there are any questions or concerns, please email deafhealth@gallaudet.edu. This study has been approved by Gallaudet University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Globally, one in three adults has some level of measurable hearing loss, and 1.1 billion young persons are at risk for hearing loss attributable to noise exposure. Although noisy occupations such as construction, mining, and manufacturing are primary causes of hearing loss in adults, nonoccupational noise also can damage hearing. Loud noises can cause permanent hearing loss through metabolic exhaustion or mechanical destruction of the sensory cells within the cochlea. Some of the sounds of daily life, including those made by lawn mowers, recreational vehicles, power tools, and music, might play a role in the decline in hearing health. Hearing loss as a disability largely depends on a person’s communication needs and how hearing loss affects the ability to function in a job. The loss of critical middle and high frequencies can significantly impair communication in hearing-critical jobs (e.g., law enforcement and air traffic control).

Read the whole article.