The DoD Hearing Center of Excellence Celebrates 10 Years!

The DoD Hearing Center of Excellence (HCE) is honoring 10 Years of collaboration! In recognition that hearing is a critical sense for our Service members and Veterans, the DoD established the center in response to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (P.L. 110-417, Sec 721), and HCE was officially stood up in December 2010, when Air Force Col. (ret) Dr. Mark Packer took the helm. The HCE’s mission is to provide support to enhance operational performance, medical readiness, and quality of life through collaborative leadership and advocacy for hearing and balance health.

CLICK HERE to read the special 10th anniversary edition of HCE's newsletter that highlights benchmarks they have achieved with their national and international collaborators, along with plans for their future journey. 

ASHA Calls on CDC to Recognize the Need for Clear Face Masks

In a letter sent on June 8th to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) urges the agency to emphasize the need for clear face masks and the use of other communication aids to protect people with hearing and other communication disorders.

CLICK HERE to read more!

Best Practices Guidelines for Safely Conducting Hearing Testing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

NHCA initiated a Task Force for developing guidance to safely conduct hearing testing during the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The intent of this document is to provide a “Best Practices” guidance to Hearing Testing Professionals to help minimize their risk of SARS CoV-2 infection through person-to-person spread within occupational health clinics, company in-house testing and mobile test environments. Information within this document is based upon current knowledge, CDC guidance and common sense all of which are subject to change as we learn more about COVID-19.

To view the guidelines, CLICK HERE! (.pdf)

Special Issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America: COVID-19 Pandemic Acoustic Effects

Call For Papers!

Due to COVID-19 The International Year of Sound has, mostly unfortunately, turned into an International Year of Quiet, at least as far as anthropogenic sound is concerned. We, as a scientific and technical community specializing in acoustics, should take note of this sudden and drastic change and do our part to chronicle it as precisely as possible.  COVID-19 has had enormously wide-ranging effects, including strong acoustic effects. 

It is the intent of this issue to quickly publish both specific and general pieces on in-air, in-water, and in-ground measurements of ambient sound (over as complete a frequency spectrum as possible), and the effects of the changed soundscape on people and animals. Time series and geographically differing looks over the lifetime of the event are especially desirable, if available.

Please CLICK HERE to learn more.