Monthly Review - Free, Invisible Hearing Aids

In this month's 20Q with Gus Mueller, our Question Man interviews Sergei Kochkin about Better Hearing Institute's MarkeTrak research. Since the late 1980s, MarkeTrak data has been the go-to reference for information about people who wear hearing aids, people who own hearing aids but don't wear them, people who need hearing aids but don't own them, and hearing industry trends. In this wealth of information you can find answers to questions such as, "What are the top motivating factors for purchasing hearing aids?", "What are the most common reasons why hearing aids are in the drawer?", and, "What percentage of people with hearing loss would use hearing aids if they were free and invisible?". You could spend weeks poring over the 25 years of MarkeTrak data from surveys of more than 80,000 households. Fortunately for us, Dr. Kochkin provides some of the key highlights in our June 20Q. But he didn't reveal all the hidden secrets in this article, so check back for another 20Q article with Dr. Kochkin next month. Rather than simply a Cliffs Notes version of the data, you'll find these 20Q articles full of Dr. Kochkin's insights and passion, with an added touch of wit. They are a great read, and they are CE-eligible.



Dr. Kochkin takes a break from MarkeTrak to pursue another one of his passions, traveling.

Read the complete collection of 20Q with Gus Mueller articles in the 20Q Archives.

Critical Issues in Educational Audiology

The face of educational audiology is changing, with new tools, new technology both on and off the ears, and budget cuts that force us to do more with less, just to name a few current challenges. Our Critical Issues in Educational Audiology online conference, presented in partnership with the Educational Audiology Association, features leading experts Cheryl DeConde Johnson, Dawna Lewis, Kris English, Tina Childress, Joseph Smaldino and Daniel Ostergren discussing these topics and more. Join us at 12pm Eastern each day next week to be a part of this exciting conference! Registration is free but space is limited - register today. All the details can be found at:

More AO Features

What would an evidence-based hearing aid fitting look like - which features would be included and which ones would be left at the door? Brian Taylor tells us in Constructing a Hearing Aid Fitting Using the Latest Clinical Evidence. Craig Castelli provides timely advice on buying an audiology practice in Be Your Own Boss: 5 Tips for Successfully Buying an Audiology Practice. We also have two of our most popular seminars on infection control from the profession's leading expert, A.U. Bankaitis, now available as articles/text courses: Infection Control Part 1, Why Audiologists Need To Do It and Infection Control Part 2, What Audiologists Need To Do.

New from Industry

A hearing aid designed for spontaneous acceptance from Siemens, a new microCIC and First Class product line from Unitron, an overview of the head impulse test from Kamran Barin on behalf of Otometrics, and news from Oticon Medical about a bone anchored solutions best practices guidelines can all be found in our Interviews this month. We hope they help you keep up on the latest! We've also included the most recent News and Ask the Expert features over in the right-hand column.

As always, thanks for reading.

Carolyn Smaka, Au.D.
Editor-in-Chief, AudiologyOnline