Profession

Audiology dispute in Costa Rica as state model for buying hearing aids changes

Details: Published on 16 May 2019

funding

A change in Costa Rica's hearing aid purchasing model has triggered a dispute between speech-hearing therapists and state health administrators.

EHIMA figures show 6.5% year growth in hearing aid sales

Details: Published on 15 May 2019

Sales

April figures released by the European Hearing Instrument Manufacturers Association (EHIMA) show that global adoption of hearing aids in 2018 grew faster than in either of the two preceding years.

US NIDCD appoints Duke University professor Debara Tucci as its new director

Details: Published on 14 May 2019

Nomination

Debara Tucci Md., M.S., M.B.A — © National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Dr. Debara L. Tucci will take over in September this year as the next director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), in charge of its annual budget for the nation's hearing matters of around $459m.

Tailored FDA framework planned to let evolving algorithms teach themselves

Details: Published on 13 May 2019

Ai

Algorithms and security — © Maxkabakov - Fotolia

The fast-arriving healthcare benefits from evolving artifical intelligence (AI) technology mean a flexible "tailored" regulatory framework must be put in place, says the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), though the agency quickly drew criticism for lack of clarity.

NICE criteria review means 70% more NHS cochlear implants annually in UK by 2024

Details: Published on 10 April 2019

CI

A significant rise in the number of UK NHS patients receiving cochlear implants (CIs) will follow a long-overdue criteria revision by the standards-setting body NICE.

New regional ENT plan for the Pacific

Details: Published on 09 April 2019

Public health

Australian and New Zealand ENT and Audiology experts have been meeting this spring with their counterparts from 6 Pacific Islands to help develop a plan to tackle an alarming regional shortage in hearing health equipment and workforce.

Health authority must pay €200k in compensation for "totally deaf" misdiagnosis of child with autism

Details: Published on 02 April 2019

Litigation

Court sentence — © Marilyn Nieves/ iStock.com

"Crass medical errors" led to a child in Galicia, Spain being misdiagnosed as "totally, incurably deaf"—the real complaint of autism overlooked—and then submitted to unnecessary cochlear implant operations causing unilateral deafness.

Medicare - the land where angels (and audiologists) fear to tread

Details: Published on 28 March 2019

Reimbursement

AAA 2019 "The Best of Audiology" must also embrace what for many professionals is the worst of audiology, namely the complexity and stress of medicare.