According to the National Institutes on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, approximately 37.5 million Americans aged 18 and over report some trouble hearing.
Recently, the Department of Defense (DOD) https://dod.defense.gov and the VA https://www.va.gov recently initiated a pilot program to train virtually more than 5,000 hearing technicians.
Hearing technicians are trained and certified to perform basic hearing health duties, such as conducting air conduction audiograms, fitting hearing protection devices, and providing hearing health education.
The DOD-VA Hearing Technician Training and Certification Program was initiated by the DOD Hearing Center of Excellence https://hearing.health.mil, to train hearing technicians to become familiar with the recognized standards and approved courses of the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC).
“The DOD and VA hearing technician course is leading the way to establish a distributed learning CAOHC course,” said Dr. Theresa Schulz, Prevention Division Chief for the Center, “If successful, this will become another effective way for the audiology community to conduct CAOHC-approved courses.”
In other news related to hearing loss , the VA has just received compassionate use approval from FDA for a groundbreaking in-house developed medical device to help veterans with a rare hearing condition.
FDA’s compassionate use authorizations allows patients access to prototype medications, biologics, and medical devices for medical treatment outside of clinical trials when no comparable or satisfactory alternative therapy options exist.
The 3D printed stent is inserted in the external ear canal to keep it from collapsing and allow sound to pass through. The device is not surgically implanted and can be easily removed by the patient. The unique hearing aid was designed and created by the integrated #d printing network team at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston South Carolina.