Since launching in April 2011, Hearing Health & Technology Matters has provided practical information on hearing loss for audiologists and consumers alike. The broad range of topics they cover has earned the site more than a million unique hits, and sees them expanding into different areas of hearing loss.
Editor-in-chief David Kirkwood, who has been covering hearing care since 1990, announced his retirement on June 1, and will be succeeded by Wayne Staab. Before his departure, David and Wayne, along with Holly Hosford-Dunne, answered a few questions for us via email about how their site has grown in the last four years.
Best of luck to David and the HHTM team!
How did HHTM begin?
The vision that inspired us to start Hearing Health & Technology Matters has remained essentially unchanged. We wanted to provide readers who know that “hearing health matters” with an independent source of accurate information and expert insights that they could find nowhere else. And we were determined not to let commercial pressures from companies or the political concerns of professional organizations influence what we wrote.
Six of our founding editors are audiologists: Dr. Wayne Staab, who focuses on hearing aids; Dr. Holly Hosford-Dunn, an authority on the economics of hearing care; Dr. Bob Traynor; Dr. Judy Huch; Dr. Alan Desmond, an expert on vestibular issues; and Dr. Marshall Chasin, who addresses the concerns of music lovers with hearing problems.
How has HHTM evolved since its launch?
Our goals have not changed, but we have evolved and grown in terms of the subjects we cover.
We needed someone who could write from a consumer’s perspective. Fortunately, we found Gael Hannan, a talented writer who mixes humor with an occasional dash of pathos in her first-hand accounts of living with hearing loss.
Childhood hearing loss is a crucial subject for families who face it, so we persuaded Dr. Jane Madell, a renowned pediatric audiologist, to edit Hearing and Kids.
Dr. Bob Martin, who was already well known for the print column, Nuts & Bolts, joined Judy Huch as co-editor of our private practice section. Last fall, Dr. Angela Loavenbruck and Lolly Wigall, two prominent private-practice audiologists, became editors of Hearing Views.
HHTM has also developed The Journal, a section where researchers can publish their findings. We felt this was valuable, because so much good research in audiology and hearing science is never published.
In 2014 we added Pathways, a section devoted to higher auditory pathway issues. Dr. Frank Musiek, the editor of Pathways, is a primary expert in this field.
Since HHTM reaches people in more than 200 countries, we added a unique section with posts in languages other than English, including Spanish, French, German, and Russian.
At this time, HHTM does not have a cochlear implant editor, but we will be looking to recruit one.
Have you noticed any changes in usage on the site?
One change we’ve observed is that, while most of our readers are hearing professionals, a growing percentage of our site visitors are consumers. We are glad to see the shift because we always envisioned HHTM as a forum connecting consumers and practitioners.
What achievements are you particularly proud of?
When we began, we had no idea what to expect. Reaching 1000 page views a month seemed like a good first goal, but we achieved that in our very first month. Now we get more than 1000 page views almost every day.
We take great pride in our team of editors who take their commitment to HHTM so seriously. In just over 4 years, they have published more than 2500 weekly posts.
What future goals do you have for HHTM?
Along with working hard to maintain our rapid readership growth, we hope to add sections in diagnostics and basic science related to hearing. We also want to get a better handle on our audience so we can better serve their needs going forward.