Speech-Language-Hearing Association
During its annual convention, the Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) awarded Karl White with the Distinguished Service Award. White, a pioneer in expanding universal newborn hearing screening, has made contributions to the public, ASHA, and the professions through research, legislative and government activities, consumer advocacy, and public awareness. His work has resulted in earlier identification of children with hearing loss in the United States as well as 29 countries worldwide.

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes significant contributions to the field of speech-language pathology and/or audiology by non-members.

ASHA also recognized Julia M. Davis, PhD, professor emerita of the University of Minnesota, with the Honors of the Association award, which goes to those who have made distinguished contributions to the field of speech, language, and hearing, and is the highest honor AHSA can give.

Davis’s pioneering contributions in clinical research, particularly in aural habilitation/rehabilitation, brought this area to prominence, and her extensive body of work has helped shape the field. In recognition of her service to the professions, as well as the visibility she brought to the field, the University of Minnesota named its new facility the Julia M. Davis Speech-Language-Hearing Center.

National Institute of Mental Health
The National Institute of Mental Health announced two of its long-term grantees, Eric Knudsen, PhD, and Masakazu Konishi, PhD, will share the Peter Gruber Foundation’s Neuroscience Award for research on sound localization and neural plasticity.

Knudsen is professor and chair of the department of neurobiology at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. His research focuses on cellular mechanisms that underlie adaptive behavioral changes in response to experience with changing environmental conditions during development in adult animals.

Konishi is the Bing Professor of behavioral biology at the California Institute of Technology. For the past 20 years, he has been investigating the brain mechanisms of sound localization in barn owls.

Hearing Components
Timothy R. Hedlund, PE, has joined Hearing Components, Oakdale, Minn, as vice president of sales. Before joining Hearing Components, Hedlund was president of Midmac Systems, a manufacturing automation company. He has his bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, and his master’s from Stanford. He has spent the past 25 years in management positions at technically-based companies, including 3M and Bell Labs.

Hansaton Hearing Systems
Hansaton Hearing Systems, Hamburg, Germany, recently named Stuart Olive as the company’s sales manager. Olive brings several years of sales management experience to the company and will be responsible for developing and expanding sales of the Hansaton product line throughout the United States. Hansaton Hearing Systems’ products are produced and distributed in Mobile, Alabama.

Ascend Media
Dennis Triola has joined Ascend Media, owner of The Hearing Review, as the president of the company’s Allied Healthcare Division, Los Angeles. “I am honored and excited about joining the successful team at the Allied Healthcare Division of Ascend Media. Although we’re still in the getting acquainted phase, it appears we have some great growth opportunities in research, custom publishing, and online product development,” says Triola, who has more than 30 years of experience in business-to-business media.

For the past 12 years, he has been a group publisher at Primedia Business. During his time there, he launched new magazines, conferences, and online projects. Before his time at Primedia Business, Triola spent nearly 20 years managing sales territories for various business-to-business publications.

Triola graduated from the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, and recently served as president of the board of the Missouri Association of Publications. He and his wife, Linda, have a son, Bret, and a daughter, Holly.

Starkey Hearing Foundation
This year, the Starkey Hearing Foundation, Eden Prairie, Minn, is offering two National Association of Future Doctors of Audiology (NAFDA) members the opportunity to participate in a foundation mission through the Second Annual Starkey Hearing Foundation Student Humanitarian Award. The 2006 award winners will be eligible to attend one Starkey Hearing Foundation mission. Recipients must complete the mission by April 30, 2007. All travel and hotel expenses are included with the award. Winners will be announced the evening of April 8, 2006, at the Starkey Laboratories-sponsored NAFDA Student Humanitarian Award ceremony in Minneapolis. For more information, contact Kelly Simpson at Starkey Laboratories at (800) 328-8602 or e-mail her at kelly_simpson@starkey.com; www.nafda.org. The application deadline is March 6, 2006.

In 2005, the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s Student Humanitarian Award recognized Alison M. Bruns and Philip C. Griffin, whose efforts to help children and underprivileged populations caught the attention of Foundation Founder William F. Austin. “Both Alison and Philip have demonstrated their commitment to help others,” Austin said. “Their passion is an important asset, not only to their careers, but also to those who need their skill and caring attitudes. Their eagerness to serve is a positive example for us all.”

Since 1973, the Starkey Hearing Foundation has been giving the gift of hearing to the world’s underprivileged—especially children—through its internationally recognized mission trips and its domestic program, Hear Now. Since 2000, the Foundation has provided more than 130,000 hearing aids to those in need around the world. For more information about the Starkey Hearing Foundation, see the October 2005 Hearing Review article (pgs 58-59) or visit www.sotheworldmayhear.org.