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It’s a sound proposal, but you might not know that listening to some of the arguments against it. They may sound plausible, but they don’t stand up to scrutiny. WE NEED A HOUSING PLAN, NOT MORE FISCAL STIMULUS The premise of this argument is probably true: recent evidence suggests that high debt is holding back consumer demand. Recent research shows that government spending on infrastructure or other investments raises demand even in an economy beset by over-indebted consumers. THE COST PER JOB IS TOO HIGH Martin Feldstein, the Harvard economist...each job produced by the plan would cost about $200,000. This...

The fun begins again. Hearing at link. Just started...

GOP Rep. Steve King (R-IA) - a stalwart opponent of illegal alien amnesty, came out with a strong response to Barack Obama's "Uncle Omar" - the 20-year fugitive from justice busted for DUI in Massachussetts 2 weeks ago, who was then summarily released by ICE a few days ago. This follows the outrage of Obama's Aunt Zeituni mooching off welfare and public housing for years in Boston, before being outed - and then getting asylum in an unprecedented closed immigration hearing. As Judiciary Chariman Lamar Smith said Friday, "It appears there is a double standard — one for President Obama’s...

Neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are offering hope to the 10 percent of the population who suffer from tinnitus – a constant, often high-pitched ringing or buzzing in the ears that can be annoying and even maddening, and has no cure. Their new findings, published online last week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest several new approaches to treatment, including retraining the brain, and new avenues for developing drugs to suppress the ringing. "This work is the most clearheaded documentation to this point of what's actually happening in the brain's cortex in ways...

It is estimated that only 20 percent of people who could benefit from hearing instruments seek help, many often waiting up to ten years from the time they could benefit from hearing amplification. Among those who try hearing instruments for the first time, acceptance can be slow and rejection rates high. Now, a new advanced technology hearing device from Oticon, Inc. shows the potential to deliver immediate benefits and motivate immediate acceptance by people new to hearing amplification. Results of a multi-center international study with first-time users conducted by researchers at Towson University in Baltimore, MD and Horzentrum in Oldenburg,...

Melbourne researchers have invented a small, smart, self-managed hearing aid that outperforms most conventional hearing aids for less than half the price. It uses technology first developed for Australia’s bionic ear, and is so simple to set up that most users can buy one over the internet and fit it themselves. That brings the cost down to between $1,000 and $1500, or less than $3000 (Aus) for a pair. The user can then easily fine-tune it and even switch the settings to suit the home, work, or the pub. The new technology was launched in Melbourne today by the inventor...

Senate Democrats are charging taxpayers for a trip to Hawaii, The Daily Caller has learned. The entire press staff of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is in Maui, even though a field hearing there won’t happen until next Wednesday. The committee’s oversight field hearing, scheduled for next Wednesday at 9 a.m. at the Maui Beach Hotel, will focus on “Strengthening Self-Sufficiency: Overcoming Barriers to Economic Development in Native Communities.” Rick Manning from Americans for Limited Government, which first discovered the hearing, told TheDC it’s unbelievable that Hill staffers talking about fiscal responsibility would waste money on a trip to Maui....

University at Buffalo research showing that a new drug that eliminated tinnitus with a single dose in animal models is among the advances that will be presented at the Fifth Tinnitus Research Initiative Conference, "The Neuroscience of Tinnitus," sponsored by UB's Center for Hearing and Deafness Aug. 19-21 in Grand Island, N.Y. "The Neuroscience of Tinnitus" will explore new discoveries about the origins, diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus (the perception of sound without any acoustic stimulus), a disorder that affects 10-14 percent of Americans and is especially prevalent among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. While various therapies can help some...

The gun walker hearing untelevised earlier today will be on CSpan3 at 7:00 PM this evening. If not on your cable, you can also go to CSpan and watch in streaming mode. Regards,

A revolutionary biodegradable pellet which slowly releases antibiotics into the middle ear could transform the lives of thousands of children who suffer from glue ear. Scientists at The University of Nottingham have developed the tiny controlled-release antibiotic pellet which can be implanted in the middle ear during surgery to fit grommets, or small ventilation tubes. Over a period of three weeks it will release effective quantities of antibiotics to target any infection which can, in up to 20 per cent of cases, result in children having to return for a second and sometimes a third operation. The team has been...

In the past, it has been impossible to find hearing aids that work in a moist environment. But now a waterproof hearing aid has been developed and it is on the market in the US, Australia and in parts of Asia including Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Trials for humidity tolerance have been carried out in Australia. THORBURN: Well the most significant thing is that for hearing aid wearers water's always been a major problem. Not just water as you think of a splash from the rain, but humidity, which gets right into the core...

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts have been researching how the human ear distinguishes between sounds with subtle differences. They have identified a particular mutation affecting the tectorial membrane inside the inner ear which interferes with the way sounds are sorted during the hearing process. Researchers hope that further study of this mechanism may lead to new hearing aids and other assistive devices that are much more effective than the models currently on the market. Scientists have long known that hair cells along the basilar membrane inside the cochlea translate sound waves into electrical impulses that...

The SoundBite Hearing Aid system has received it’s second clearance by the USA Food and Drug Administration. The device provides a unique and innovative alternative for the hearing impaired. The new FDA clearance allows use of the SoundBite system for patients with conductive hearing loss. SoundBite is a non surgical solution for the hearing impaired. It is a cost effective alternative to existing surgical procedures that yield similar results. The device is a removable prosthetic that uses bone conduction through your teeth to amplify and transmit sound clearly to your inner ear. “We are pleased that the uses of the...

Irish start-up MuteButton has secured a €200,000 (£180,000) investment from Enterprise Ireland to accelerate large-scale clinical trials of its tinnitus treatment device and grow its staff to 20 by 2013 as the device nears market release. MuteButton was established in 2010 by Dr Ross O’Neill, as a spin-out company from the Hamilton Institute, NUI Maynooth, where the technology, a novel medical device to successfully treat people suffering from permanent tinnitus, was originally developed by O’Neill, Dr Paul O’Grady and Prof Barak Pearlmutter. The company has recently located to NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at University College Dublin (UCD),...

The hotel maid who claims former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn raped her has been accused of working as a prostitute. Allegations have emerged that the 32-year-old cleaner was was taking extra money from male guests at the hotel for sex. 'There is information... of her getting extraordinary tips, if you know what I mean. And it's not for bringing extra f**king towels,' a source close to the defence investigation told the New York Post. The woman also had 'a lot of her expenses – hair braiding, salon expenses – paid for by men not related to her,' the source added....

The New York Police Department’s policy regarding a job candidate’s hearing ability is straightforward enough: Applicants who fail a basic hearing test will not be hired as officers. But for police officers already on the job, the policy is not so clear-cut. After years of informally allowing officers to wear hearing aids, and even paying for some, the department in late 2009 began enforcing a ban on the hearing devices, forcing older officers who had them to retire and instructing younger officers to stop wearing them at work. Two of those forced to retire have filed a complaint with the...

Listen Technologies introduces four new assistive listening systems to meet the needs of the new ADA Standards. BLUFFDALE, Utah, June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Listen Technologies Corporation today announced the availability of four new assistive listening systems to meet the requirements of the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards for accessible design. Compliant with today's Department of Justice Title III of the ADA for assistive listening systems, each of the Listen ADA systems provide all the necessary components to meet the new standards for the minimum number of receivers/ALDs required based on the capacity seating of assembly areas. And,...

DETROIT — A team of Wayne State University researchers was awarded $330,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a 3-D neural probe. Their aim is to develop an implantable device that will suppress tinnitus, a neurological disorder that affects more than 250 million people worldwide. With the ever-expanding knowledge in the fields of neuroscience and neurosurgery, there is an increasing need for devices and tools that enable neuroscientists to delve deeper into the physiological and pathological function of neural tissue at the level of groups of neurons. A variety of neural probes developed have significantly contributed to important...

Two 21-year-old twins, who were the former lovers of Hugh Hefner have revealed that the 'Playboy' chief has gone partially deaf because he takes too much of Viagra. Karissa and Kristina Shannon said that 85-year-old womaniser would not stop taking the pill because he does not want to lose his sex drive. "He said he would rather have sex than have his hearing. He has hearing aids now and even then he can only hear out of one ear," the Sun quoted Karissa as saying. "You have to lean down and talk into his good ear for him to understand...