For decades Apple has addressed the digital divide between technological innovation and the disabled consumer. According to a new article out of Australia, the company’s most recent features have “taken aid for the disabled [even] further.”  

In an article catered to HR Professionals we learn both what employees and employers should know, in order to protect their rights regarding hearing health in the workplace. 

Last week a video went viral, posted by a young woman with hearing loss who recently began to hear after 29 years due to the implantation of an Esteem hearing device offered by Envoy Medical. Comments posted in response to the video in the Mashable Social Media article were a moving addition to the home video shot in the young woman’s doctor’s office; people responded to the emotions the young woman expressed when hearing her voice for the first time and were collectively overjoyed at sharing in her new found life experience.

Last week, an industry partner of AuDNet, Inc. (AudiologyOnline) published an article written by our President & Founder, David Smriga. The article, entitled "Are We (Still) Asleep At The Wheel? An Update from Seven Years Ago", explores the changes, or lack thereof, in the Audiology industry with regard to marketing and positioning themselves as THE hearing experts and go to professionals for hearing health.

Marine Lance Cpl. David Goldich was operating the gun turret on top of a Humvee when a roadside bomb, rigged with a 155 mm artillery shell, detonated beside him.

“It knocked out our vehicle commander, blew out fuel tank, shredded our tire,” Goldich recalled about the summer night in 2006 outside of Fallujah, Iraq. The explosion caused physical damage to the serviceman, too; it punctured Goldich’s right eardrum.

Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent health complaints in adults over the age of 60 and a major factor in speech comprehension difficulties. The goal for researchers at the Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the Volen National Center for Complex Systems at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts was to examine the effects of hearing ability on the brain processes supporting spoken language processing in adult humans.

The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor activity in the brain while older adult subjects with normal-level hearing for their age listened to sentences that varied in the amount of linguistic comprehension needed to understand them...

Viagra may enhance some things, but it could also make you deaf. According to The Daily Telegraph, Viagra and similar impotence drugs have been linked to more than a few cases of sudden hearing loss.

How could the little blue diamond, keeping gentlemen in the game for over a decade, suddenly sideline them with hearing loss? Researchers in England examined instances of a condition called sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) in men taking Viagra and other erectile dysfunction (PDE-5 inhibitor) drugs.

Oddly enough, besides lungs, it seems that smoke gets in your ears.  A large study by Zausmer Foundation and NYU indicated that teens exposed to secondhand smoke tend to experience an associated hearing loss.

Sensorineural hearing loss is the most common type of hearing loss and most often caused by damage to the inner ear, for a variety of reasons. 

An audiology patient will have many advantages by visiting an AuDNet Audiologist.

Recently a "Dear Abby" fan wrote in to ask for advice on what to do because her husband constantly needs to have blaring music in the car when she's around and how its painful to her ears. Abby suggested that it could be that her husband suffers from hearing loss (probably from listening to too-loud music), which is why he needs the volume turned up so high. She recommended that he should be checked by an audiologist - a "hearing specialist" (a term coined by AuDNet) so that he doesn't damage his hearing further, and hers won't be affected.

By using the term "hearing specialist," this advice reiterates the importance of seeing an audiologist rather than a hearing aid specialist, ENT, dealer, etc.

CLICK HERE to read the "Dear Abby" column (second letter) on Yahoo! News.

Trauma-related hearing loss can result from several causes, from loud sounds to a blow to the head.

Check out Dr. Julie's video on understanding various battery sizes.

Although hearing aids are extremely useful devices, not every hearing loss needs hearing aids, and not every hearing loss can be helped by hearing aids.  To learn more, click on the title above.

Having difficulty understanding in noisy situations? – Time to see an Audiologist!

Check out this inspiring true story that took place in Chicago recently!

The great industry debate: should the value of audiology care be nationally marketed?

America’s national network of independent, licensed audiologists, will conduct a series of awareness campaigns to connect consumers seeking the best hearing care treatment with professional audiologists.  Click on the title above to read more.

Hearing loss not effects over 34 million Americans.  What is surprising is that approximately 65% of individuals with hearing loss are under the age of 65.  Click on the title above to read more.