Alexandria, VA, February 23, 2007 - Corporate CEOs and professional organization leaders of the hearing care industry met February 15-17 at the annual meeting of the Hearing Industries Association (HIA).
Opening the two-day session, HIA Chair Cathy Henderson Jones, Phonak noted that the annual event "provides leaders of our industry an unparalled opportunity to talk, interact and form the basis for cooperation on issues of mutual importance throughout the year." Jones continues the second year of her term, heading the Executive Committee of Vice Chair Alan Dozier, GN ReSound; Immediate Past Chair Randy Raymond, Spectrum Brands/Rayovac, and Secretary/Treasurer Jeff Taylor, Sonion US. The HIA Executive Committee guides the HIA Board of Directors, consisting of newly-elected directors Franz Fink, Gennum Corporation, Christi Pedra, Siemens Hearing Instruments, and Sam Westover, Sonic Innovations ; re-elected directors Peer Lauritsen, Oticon, and Ron Meltsner, Widex, and continuing directors Cathy Jones, Alan Dozier, GN ReSound, John Zei, Knowles Electronics, Randy Raymond and Jerry Ruzicka, Starkey Laboratories.
Major presentations at the meeting led off with a preliminary look at early results of the HIA project, "Exploring the Consumer's Journey," presented by lead researcher Margaret Wylde, PhD, The ProMatura Group, Oxford, MS. The project, initiated in 2003, is in its second phase, and designed to identify those elements of the hearing aid itself and the acquisition process that are strongly associated with "high delight" of consumers. Under the direction of an HIA Task Force led by Jerry Ruzicka, ProMatura launched a web-based survey of hearing aid owners. HIA Member Audiology Online donated front page space at its consumer site, www.HealthyHearing.com for the survey and assisted in the collection of responses from approximately 900 owners whose hearing aids are less than five years old. The response to the survey was strong, with over 70% of those who opened the survey actually completing it. In introducing the results, Ruzicka advised that the web survey results will be explored in focus groups over the balance of this year, with final results of the research to be reported in a variety of ways - reports, white papers, and industry presentations.
Additional meeting presentations featured Sergei Kochkin, PhD, Executive Director of the Better Hearing Institute (BHI) and HIA favorite Larry Sabato, PhD, Professor at the University of Virginia and head of UVA's Center for Politics. Kochkin's session presented BHI priorities and a preview of the next phase of his longitudinal MarkeTrak study, to be published in April 2007. Sabato looked into his renowned "Crystal Ball" to assess the current prospects of the crowded field of presidential contenders for the 2008 election.
In a special tribute, HIA awarded its sixth "Volunteerism Award" to John Zei. In presenting the award, Cathy Jones highlighted the fact that Zei has served in virtually every volunteer leadership position within HIA over his 30 years of volunteerism, including service as HIA chairman four different times "when the industry needed to call on his unique blend of skills and expertise - his leadership of both hearing aid and supplier companies, his law degree, his MBA and his vast knowledge of the hearing aid industry."
About HIA
HIA, headquartered in Alexandria, VA, is the national trade association of manufacturers of hearing aids, implantable hearing devices, assistive listening devices, component parts and power sources for amplification devices.
