Washington, DC, March 10, 2009 —Members of the Hearing Industries Association (HIA) met on February 26 and 27 to elect new leaders for the Association and set the organization's course for the year. Jerry Ruzicka, Starkey, HIA Chair, welcomed the hearing aid companies and dispensing organizations' leaders to "The Consumer Connection," noting that the consumers are the key entity in hearing services around which the manufacturers and hearing professionals must constantly come together.
In a program that reflected the theme, meeting attendees heard from Brenda Battat, Hearing Loss Association of America and Alex Graham, AG Bell Association for the Deaf. Dr. Lucille Beck, Chief of Audiology and Speech Pathology at the Veterans Administration, highlighted the current scope of audiology services for veterans, and HIA welcomed a special guest, Dr. Valentin Chapero, president of the European Hearing Instruments Manufacturers Association.
Dr. Ruth Day, Director of the Medical Cognition Laboratory at Duke University, provided an expert's view of how consumers view advertising of medical devices and drugs, noting that the current ads for listening devices look like hearing aid advertisements to individuals with hearing loss. Dr. Eric Mann, Deputy Clinical Director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the US Food & Drug Administration, acknowledged the devices and advised that the Agency will issue a guidance document in the near future that will likely outline the differences between these devices and regulated hearing aids.
Board elections held at the meeting re-elected the following directors for two-year terms on the HIA Board: Peer Lauritsen, Oticon;Ron Meltsner, Widex;Christi Pedra, Siemens;Ian Roane, Sound Design Technologies;Robert Tong, ON Semiconductor and Sam Westover, Sonic Innovations. Mike Orscheln, Phonak , was elected to a first term on the Board. Ruzicka;Westover;Jeff Taylor, Pulse Engineering, and Cathy Jones, Phonak continue as officers of the Association.
HIA, headquartered in Washington, DC, is the national trade association of manufacturers of hearing aids, implantable hearing devices, assistive listening devices, component parts and power sources for amplification devices.
