The Hearing Loss Association of America believes seniors with hearing loss should not have to scrimp and save, or go without basic needs, to just be able to hear. Seniors on fixed incomes, seniors who depend on Social Security and Medicare, seniors who don’t qualify for Medicaid or who live in states that don’t provide hearing aids through Medicaid, should not have to choose between hearing and their other basic needs.

In an effort to head off hearing loss – particularly among young people -- New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has launched a quarter-million dollar effort to warn of the dangers of using personal listening devices (PLDs) at high volumes.

“As an audiologist,” writes Patricia Greene in the Washington Post, “I was alarmed to read about the sound level at “Bandolero” A check at the spirited Mexican restaurant in Georgetown averaged 105 decibels, the din associated with a power mower.

What's too loud: Federal OSHA standards say the ear can tolerate eight hours a day of 90-decibel sound (the sound of a well-tuned power mower), four hours at 95 decibels, two hours at 100 decibels, and so on. Many audiologists say those times should be cut in half.

Laurie Wells, Au.D., Manager of Audiology for Associates in Acoustics, Inc., received the Michael Beall Threadgill Award during a ceremony at the annual conference of the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA).

In the February 2012 issue of the International Journal of Audiology researchers at Western Michigan University’s Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology identify the distribution of typical noise levels present in daily life and identify factors associated with average sound levels.

A study by The Goodfellow Unit of the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, School of Population Health, The University of Auckland, New Zealand aimed to investigate occupational stress amongst audiologists, along with quantification of their professional quality of life: Burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction.