Hearing News
FDA Warns Viagra, Cialis and Levitra May Cause Sudden Hearing Loss
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ordered makers of the erectile dysfunction drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra to post prominent warnings on their labels of the possilbity they may cause sudden hearing loss. The FDA said it has received 29 reports of sudden hearing loss, both with and without accompanying ringing in the ears, vertigo, or dizziness following usage of the drugs. Most cases involved one ear, with either a partial or complete loss of usual hearing. Read more
Vaccination Can Lessen Meningitis Risk For Cochlear Implant Patients
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a new warning that cochlear implant patients make sure they get vaccinated against bacterial meningitis, a potentially deadly infection causing inflammation of the meninges, or lining of the brain. Read more
More Good News From WGBH NCAM: Easy Captions For Adobe Flash Videos
While I’m going on about WGBH NCAM’s web video captioning success with its industry-wide coalition, I should also mention their recent introduction of a software utility that makes it easy to create captioned Adobe Flash videos. Read more
Stone Deaf Pilots Site Rocks With Hearing Assistive Technology Galore
I just discovered a GREAT site on assistive technology for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, Stone Deaf Pilots – The Deaf Tech Blog. It’s authored by Kathryn Hill, a San Francisco-based photographer, and it’s chock full of the latest and greatest assistive technologies for both profoundly deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers. Read more
AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! Collaborate On Web Video Captioning
There’s some GREAT news in the captioning world this week from the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) at WGBH, the public broadcasting station in Boston. AOL, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed to collaborate with NCAM to establish and manage a new International Captioning Forum to set standards for captioning on any kind of video presented on the Web. Read more
Gennum Abandons Hearing-Aid Market With DSP Chip and Headset Spinoffs
Gennum Corp. of Canada, long one of the leading suppliers of digital signal processing (DSP) chips and other technologies to the hearing-aid and headset industries, is abandoning the hearing-aid market with the spinout of its hearing instrument design and manufacturing operations to a private equity group and the sale of its consumer Bluetooth headset business to a consumer electronics company based in Sweden. Read more
Buy Oticon Delta ‘Think Pink’ Hearing Aids And Fight Breast Cancer
Oticon is putting its money where its mouth is with donations to the American Cancer Society tied to purchases of its Delta hearing aids during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. Read more
Note To Steve Jobs: Why Isn’t The Apple iPhone Hearing-Aid Compatible?
I can’t believe Apple failed to make its iPhone compatible with either hearing aids or cochlear implants. I’m in the market for a mobile phone again and just discovered the lack of compatibility. Given all the hype surrounding the iPhone launch, I’m surprised there haven’t been more complaints. Read more