Right-Left Ear Processing Differences Detailed in Science
An article in the September 10 issue of Science by Yvonne Sininger, PhD, of UCLA and Barbara Cone-Wesson, PhD, of the University of Arizona shows that the ear itself is uniquely involved in distinguishing various types of sounds and sending signals to the optimal side of the brain for processing.

For years, hearing scientists have known that the two hemispheres of the brain process signals differently: the left side dominates in the processing of speech signals and other rapidly changing sounds, while the right side processes music and tonal information. And due to the brain’s anatomy, the left ear has greater connections to the right hemisphere of the brain, while the right ear has greater connections to the left hemisphere. Previous research assumed that this occurred due to cellular properties unique to each hemisphere; however, the new research suggests that the difference is inherent in the ear itself.

“We always assumed that our left and right ears worked exactly the same way,” says Sininger. “As a result, we tended to think it didn’t matter which ear was impaired in a person. Now, we see that it may have a profound implications for the individual’s speech and language development.”

In the 6-year study detailed in Science, the Sininger and Cone-Wesson research teams evaluated more that 3,000 newborns with rapid-click and sustained tone otoacoustic emissions (OAEs). They found that the left ear provides extra amplification for tones like music, while the right provides extra amplification for rapid signals like speech. This parallels how the brain processes speech and music.

“Our findings demonstrate that auditory processing starts in the ear before it is ever seen in the brain,” says Cone-Wesson. “Even at birth, the ear is structured to distinguish between different types of sound and to send it to the right place in the brain.”

The research is supported by previous findings that suggest a child with hearing loss in the right ear was more at risk for learning problems than a child with hearing loss in the left ear. The findings support on a physiological level the great importance for binaural amplification, and it may have large future implications for how cochlear implants and hearing aids are programmed relative to their processing goals.

The study was supported by funding from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders (NIDCD).

Phonak Holds Third Intl Pediatric Conference Chicago — On November 4-6, over 550 attendees from 32 countries attended the Third International Pediatric Conference sponsored by Phonak Hearing Systems. "A Sound Foundation Through Early Amplification" featured a combination of platform presentations, workshops, clinical forums and poster sessions devoted to the research and clinical issues related to hearing loss, communication development, and fitting of hearing instruments to infants and young children. Mary Pat Moeller, Boys Town National Research Hospital. Keynote addresses were provided by Judith Gravel, Patricia Stelmachowicz, and Martin Hyde. Additionally, over two dozen researchers and clinicians from around the world presented papers that shared their knowledge and experience with other participants during formal and informal discussion opportunities at the conference. Ora Buerkli (Phonak-Switzerland) and Sound Foundation Co-chairs Richard Seewald and John Bamford. Nearly 300 attendees were from outside the United States, and hundreds more were able to participate in the first day of the conference via a live Webcast. The morning’s broadcast was recorded, and is available online at www.phonak.com. Presentations and posters from the entire conference will be available soon for online viewing. Speakers and presenters from the Third International Pediatric Conference sponsored by Phonak. According to Phonak Director of Clinical Research David Fabry, the clinical relevance of the program was excellent, and many attendees said that it was the single best conference related to pediatric amplification that they had ever attended. The conference was organized by an international steering committee, chaired by Richard Seewald from the University of Western Ontario. Seewald, in collaboration with Professor John Bamford, will edit the conference proceedings, which will be available in early Spring 2005. The next Phonak international pediatric conference will be held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 23-25, 2005. For more information, visit www.phonak.com/conference.

Minimal Hearing Loss in Children Proven to Be Significant Problem
Philadelphia– An unidentified minimal hearing loss is a significant factor in the psychosocial and educational progress of young children, according to multiple research studies conducted over the past 20 years at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. Researchers presented findings during the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA) annual convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on November 18 at a seminar entitled, “Minimal Hearing Loss in Children—Not so Minimal After All.”

Investigators found that children with a hearing loss in one ear were 10 times more likely to suffer academic difficulties than their normal-hearing peers. They also found that 1/3 of the children examined repeated grades or required resource assistance in school.

A minimal hearing loss can be in only one ear, both ears, or can be the inability to hear high-pitched sounds. Children with this type of hearing loss are able to hear many sounds in their environments, but they often miss soft sounds or sounds of a particular frequency range. Children can have a minimal hearing loss due to a variety of reasons, including genetics, complicated births or deliveries, or exposure to ototoxic drugs. These losses often go undetected because children with such losses are believed to be ignoring or not paying attention since they appear to hear with no apparent difficulty.

Professional opinion has often suggested that children with minimal hearing loss would have no problems if they were seated preferentially in the classroom; however, investigators at Vanderbilt noted that a significant number of these children were experiencing academic difficulties.

In a subsequent study, 1200 children in the Middle Tennessee school systems were sampled where several factors—including prevalence and type of hearing loss, scores on several psychoeducational tests, school records, and school district normative data—were examined. Results indicated that 5.4% of the children had a minimal hearing loss, and these children exhibited significantly lower scores on the psychoeducational tests or failed at least one grade as compared to children with normal hearing. Follow-up testing on these children looked at performance issues, focusing on listening and attention abilities.

“The study revealed that children with a minimal hearing loss clearly expended more effort in listening than children with normal hearing,” says Anne Marie Tharpe, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt University. “These findings suggest that classwork may suffer if a child with hearing loss is expending extra mental or cognitive effort to listen to the teacher, take notes, and process what is being heard at the same time.”

Researchers have already initiated new studies using other methodologies, such as measuring salivary cortisol levels, which help to detect stress and fatigue effects in children with mild hearing loss.

Siemens Introduces Wireless Binaural Integration Aid
Piscataway, NJ — Siemens Hearing Instruments has introduced a binaural hearing instrument system that uses proprietary ear-to-ear (e2e) wireless technology, enabling the left and right hearing instruments to communicate with each other and function as one binaural hearing system. Called Acuris, the hearing aid is designed to create a level of synchronization and paves the way for true binaural integration algorithms and wireless solutions.

The new technology enables the instruments to exchange data about the wearer’s noise surroundings and automatically adjust for optimal hearing in any situation. The two hearing instruments are said to constantly work together to make decisions regarding speech and noise settings to ensure that the wearer receives the best sound from both instruments, similar to that of natural hearing.

“Previously, individuals wore two hearing instruments that functioned independently of each other, which led to additional effort on the wearer’s part,” says Thomas Powers, PhD, chief research officer at Siemens Hearing Instruments. “Acuris is the first truly binaural hearing system because the instruments in both ears communicate and exchange vital information to optimize hearing aid settings, such as volume control and listening programs, for the wearer’s listening environment.”

According to the HR Dispenser Survey (June 2004), 77% of all hearing aid fittings are binaural applications. Siemens says that the synchronous binaural hearing instruments have been shown to improve hearing performance, resulting in better sound quality, localization ability, and speech understanding. The device’s e2e wireless technology controls the processing between the left and right hearing instruments to deliver the benefits of binaural hearing.

The new hearing aid is said to automatically adjust itself to the wearer’s listening environment, but if desired, controls allow the users to adjust the volume or program for both ears with a single adjustment to only one instrument. For ITE custom models, this allows the manufacture of smaller instruments because volume and program controls can be separated between the two instruments making it easier for the wearer to distinguish between the controls when making adjustments.

ACURIS employs a multi-channel adaptive directional microphone system that transitions between omni- and directional modes automatically, and can even reduce multiple moving-noise sources. An optional feature is ePocket™, a bi-directional remote control allowing users to control both volume and program selection for any ACURIS hearing system, as well as read out the status of volume, programs, or battery settings.

Hearing Loss Cited as Second Most-Common Health Mistake
Sacramento, Calif – According to the Institute for Healthcare Advancement (www.iha4health.org, November 7) and information presented on the Hear-It Web site (www.hear-it.org), the refusal to wear hearing aids or other aids, such as eyeglasses or dentures, is the second most common mistake seniors make in caring for their health. Along with the refusal to use a walker, the IHA says this behavior may prevent seniors from obtaining helpful assistance with some of the problems of aging.

Resistance to the aging process and its appearance is detrimental to the individuals themselves and to their surrounding relatives, friends or colleagues. The number one error cited by IHA is operating a car when it is no longer safe. Other errors by seniors include: 1) Reluctance to discuss intimate health problems with the doctor or health care provider; 2) Not understanding what the doctor told them about their health problem or medical treatment plan; 3) Disregarding the serious potential for a fall; 4) failure to have a system or a plan for managing medicines; 5) Not having a single doctor or healthcare provider who looks at the overall medical plan for treatment; 6) Not seeking medical attention when early possible warning signs occur; 7) Failure to participate in prevention programs, and 7) Not asking loved ones for help.

Hearing loss is the third most common affliction among elderly people in the United States and many other countries, surpassed in frequency only by high blood pressure and arthritis.

While the elderly commonly go to their doctors for treatment of high blood pressure and arthritis, fewer than one in five who could benefit from hearing aids seeks treatment for their hearing loss.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Holds Surprise Ending
Detroit, Mich – As reported in last month’s HR (News, p 10), an October 24 segment of ABC’s Extreme Makeover:Home Edition featured hearing loss prominently in its story line, but it also contained a surprise ending not available when the first news item was published.

The EMHE team spent 7 days transforming the Detroit home of a deaf couple and their children—one of whom is a blind and autistic 12-year old boy, and the other who is a 14-year-old boy, Stefen Vardon, who has learned to help both parents and younger brother—with high-tech communication and safety devices. As the 14-year-old enters high school and plans to enter college, he expressed concerns about how the family would cope with phone calls and other verbal communications (the family relies on American Sign Language and does not communicate verbally). In the second hour of the show, the family returns from a week-long vacation to a completely remodeled home equipped with the latest in assisted-living technology. During this segment, Starkey Laboratories President and CEO William Austin and Academy Award winning actress Marlee Matlin present Stefan with a $50,000 college scholarship check from the Starkey Hearing Foundation.

Matlin also sat with Stefan’s mother, Judy, while she had her hearing tested for the first time in 20 years. Amazingly, Judy discovered she has residual hearing and was a candidate for hearing instruments. Austin and his Foundation team fit Judy in September and are also scheduled to fit Stefan’s father, Larry. ABC plans airing a follow-up episode highlighting both fittings in late-December. Visit http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome for more information.

The first episode aired on Sunday, November 7 (CST) on ABC. For information on the Starkey Hearing Foundation, visit www.sotheworldmayhear.org.

DSPfactory acquired by AMI Semiconductor
Pocatella, Idaho– DSPfactory, a leading provider of ultra-low power digital signal processing technology for the hearing industry, was purchased by AMI Semiconductor (Nasdaq: AMIS), designer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art integrated mixed-signal and structured digital products, on November 12. The company was acquired for approximately $25.9 million in cash and 1,314,000 shares of common stock. Up to an additional $8.5 million in common stock may be paid, dependent upon meeting certain revenue milestones in either 2005 or 2006.

AMI Semiconductor reports that the purchase further strengthens its ability to design, manufacture, and deliver ultra-low power DSP solutions for the global medical and industrial markets, and DSPfactory’s products allow it to provide increased DSP functionality in applications such as advanced digital hearing aids, implantable, and medical diagnostics market. In addition to the technology, AMIS acquired Dspfactory’s facilities and operations in Waterloo, Ont, and the company’s design center in Marin, Switzerland.

AMI Semiconductor (AMIS) is involved in the design and manufacture of silicon solutions, specializing in state-of-the-art integrated mixed-signal products, mixed-signal foundry services, and structured digital products. The company operates globally with headquarters in Pocatello, Idaho, and with European corporate offices in Oudenaarde, Belgium.

William F. Austin, president and CEO, Starkey Laboratories Austin Named NAHC Humanitarian of the Year Phoenix – William F. Austin, founder of the Starkey Hearing Foundation and CEO of Starkey Laboratories, was presented with the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) Humanitarian of the Year Award. The award is named for former US Senator Frank E. Moss, whose legislation created both the Medicare and Medicaid home care benefits and who served as NAHC’s Senior Counsel for 21 years. Austin was honored for his efforts to “heal the broken ears of the world.” “Among all of the people in the country, no one cares more about helping those less fortunate than William Austin,” said Val J. Halamandaris, President of the NAHC. Also honored at the NAHC’s 23rd Annual Meeting on October 27 in Phoenix were former First Lady Nancy Reagan, former U.S. Senator Robert Dole, and Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne. Austin has provided better hearing for a worldwide client list, from children in Central America to four former US Presidents, Billy Graham, Buzz Aldrin, Kirk Douglas, and others. “Of course, it’s fun to help a movie star,” says Austin, "but the best is to see a child react when he first hears. I wish I could go on all the missions we conduct each year. The things we see are so remarkable. It’s like you snapped on a switch and let them hear the world.” Halamandaris said, “Webster defines a humanitarian as a philanthropist or a friend of mankind. Bill Austin personifies caring in action. He has given unselfishly of not only his dollars and the products made by his company, but also his time to help those in need. He deserves the respect and commendation of all people.” Since 1973, Austin and the Starkey Hearing Foundation have conducted more than 200 missions a year to countries such as Vietnam, Mexico, the Ukraine, the Dominican Republic, and South Africa to fit needy children with hearing aids. In addition, the Foundation promotes hearing health awareness and provides hearing aids, hearing aid batteries, and other hearing products to needy people free of charge. NAHC, based in Washington D.C. reportedly represents over 5,000 hospices, home health agencies, some 1-million nurses, and allied personnel who provide care at home for more than 5-million ill, disabled or dying persons every year.