NHCA E-News October 2026
 

NHCA Fall Virtual Summit Wrap Up
NHCA's 3rd Annual Fall Virtual Educational Summit, held September 9, 2026, brought together more than 20 interdisciplinary professionals, researchers, and advocates from around the world to explore and present "Innovations that Make a Global Impact."

Keynote speakers opened the event with international approaches to hearing conservation and global opportunities for advancing hearing loss prevention across industries. Two panel discussions followed. The first featured an occupational medicine physician and an audiologist discussing work-related hearing loss determinations and related ethical considerations. The second, in a podcast-style format, covered trends in music-induced hearing disorders, barriers to care, the Healthy Ears Limited Annoyance (HELA) initiative, and how music-industry regulations differ from traditional occupational hearing conservation.

Additional sessions from international presenters covered:
  • Ototoxic chemical exposures and their interaction with noise hazards
  • Standards for hearing protector fit-testing performance criteria, past and present
  • Building a career or a business in hearing conservation
  • Supporting workers with hearing loss in high-noise environments
  • 3D digital ear scanning for custom hearing protection, paired with fit testing to confirm real-world effectiveness
  • Training personnel to conduct hearing protector fit testing
  • How workplace culture shapes hearing conservation outcomes
  • And more

Missed the live event—or want to revisit a session? All recordings are available through the NHCA Learning Center. Please note the window to earn CEU credit has already closed.
Visit NHCA Learning Center
 
The Call for Papers Is Now Open!
Take the Stage at NHCA's 51st Annual Conference in 2027

The National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) invites you to submit a proposal to present at the 51st Annual NHCA Conference, taking place in Orlando, Florida, April 22-24, 2027.

The 2027 conference theme, Promoting Prevention through Partnerships, celebrates the power of collaboration in advancing hearing loss prevention. We welcome presentations that showcase innovative research, practical applications, emerging technologies, interdisciplinary partnerships, and evidence-based strategies that strengthen hearing conservation efforts across industries and professions.

The Submission deadline is November 2, 2026. Abstracts will be reviewed by the conference planning committee and recruited reviewers, by December 4, 2026. 
SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT
 
NHCA/CAOHC Webinar Series

The National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) has coordinated with the Council for Accreditation in Occupational Hearing Conservation (CAOHC) to host a NHCA/CAOHC webinar series for 2025/2026.  The series offers high-level webinar content on hot topics and top-notch speakers.
REGISTER HERE
Please make a note of the upcoming webinar on October 14, 2026, by Dr. Eric Fallon. It will focus on the importance of audibility as a measure that will help hearing conservation professionals better meet their workers’ needs.
 
Also, save the date for a webinar on Advancements in Tinnitus Therapy on November 19 with Dr. Marc Fagelson. Among other topics, he will discuss current research findings and treatment advances, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and low-gain amplification for tinnitus.
 
Listen Up! 
Every two months, NHCA experts contribute a short article to the IHW Magazine. The latest issue features a section on hearing difficulties despite a normal audiogram, written by Doug Brungart.

If you are interested in sharing your expertise, you can do so by contributing to Industrial Hygiene. Please respond to the Call for Authors recently posted on the NHCA website by Devon Kulinksi.
 
Recent Hearing Research 
1.     The inner ear immune microenvironment in sensorineural hearing loss: mechanisms and therapeutic perspectives.
Guo Y, Lv J, Zhang D. Front Immunol. 2026 Sep 9;17:1911450. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2026.1911450. eCollection 2026. PMID: 42780555 Free PMC article. Review.
2.     A standardised approach to systematically select risk-outcome pairs in environmental burden of disease research.
Haverkate TMI, Devleesschauwer B, Aasvang GM, Assunção R, Bølling AK, Breitner-Busch S, Buekers J, Castro A, Gorasso V, Hassen HY, Martins C, Charalampous P, Haagsma JA. Popul Health Metr. 2026 Sep 21;24(1):54. doi: 10.1186/s12963-026-00514-0. PMID: 42768348 Free PMC article.
3.     Association between combined occupational exposure to coal dust and noise and high-frequency hearing loss among workers: a cross-sectional study.
Ma J, He Y, Meng J, Li B, Song R, Liu B, He D, Ruan Y. Front Public Health. 2026 Sep 4;14:1929586. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1929586. eCollection 2026. PMID: 42761509 Free PMC article.
4.     Mapping vocal health risk for active vocal users across European urban soundscapes: a computational framework with exploratory empirical evaluation.
Sun Y. Front Public Health. 2026 Sep 3;14:1933020. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1933020. eCollection 2026. PMID: 42756768 Free PMC article.
5.     Understanding susceptibility to inattentional deafness in safety-critical environments.
Oladejo AA, Bhandari S, Quenin LP, Boven LV, Morris M, Rajagopalan B, Hallowell M. J Safety Res. 2026 Sep;98:537-551. doi: 10.1016/j.jsr.2026.08.011. Epub 2026 Aug 21. PMID: 42744504 Free article.
6.     Prevalence and risk factors of hearing disorders among working populations - A systematic review.
Ismail MF, Yew SQ, Ooi ZQ, Yusoff HM. Am J Otolaryngol. 2026 Sep-Oct;47(5):104927. doi: 10.1016/j.amjoto.2026.104927. Epub 2026 Sep 9. PMID: 42727483 Free article.
7.     Association Between Transportation Noise Exposure and Poststroke Outcomes: Population-Based Brain Attack Surveillance in Corpus Christi Project.
Nanavati HD, Adar SD, Jin T, Chen C, Becker CJ, Morgenstern LB, Lisabeth LD. J Am Heart Assoc. 2026 Sep;15(17):e051242. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.126.051242. Epub 2026 Aug 27. PMID: 42657746 Free article.
8.     Spatial and temporal nonstationarity in the association between noise levels and perceived noise annoyance during work across groups with different chronotypes and levels of social jetlag.
Song J, Kwan MP, Tse LA. Health Place. 2026 Sep;101:103722. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2026.103722. Epub 2026 Aug 14. PMID: 42600446 Free article.
9.     Polygenic risk score analysis of noise-induced hearing loss: An integrated cross-sectional and longitudinal study.
Li J, Yu X, Shen W, Wang Y, Wang J, Wang J, Li S, Ma X, Guo J, Dong H, Ma Y, Zhang H, Cai J, Zhang R, Yang J, Zan H, Salvi R, Shi H, Hao X, Wang H, Yin S. Hear Res. 2026 Sep;479:109710. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2026.109710. Epub 2026 Jun 19. PMID: 42361732 Free article.
10.  Harmonized Europe-wide road traffic noise modeling using CNOSSOS-EU: beyond END and agreement analysis with national models.
Shen Y, Hoek G, Vienneau D, Schmitz O, Karssenberg D, Adams K, Jephcote C, Pershagen G, Pyko A, Ögren M, Ljungman P, Vermeulen R, Gulliver J, de Hoogh K. Environ Res. 2026 Sep 15;306(Pt 1):125112. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2026.125112. Epub 2026 Jun 25. PMID: 42349812 Free article.
 
Sound Postcard
I bet that as an NHCA member (or even as a hearing researcher) you get really excited when you come across data that looks at noise levels for places that you visit on a daily basis – restaurants, parks, subways. One of our members shared an article that looks at data from the U.S. National Transportation Noise Map to find out which of the US States are loudest in terms of the number of cars, trains, and planes. Authors reviewed average noise levels by postal codes and county populations. Would you like to find out how your state ranks? I won’t give any clues away except to say that Illinois is one of the louder states according to this data! Thanks, Theresa Schulz!

If you have come across interesting articles that might be a good fit for the Sound Postcard, send them along for us to feature!
 
 
 


Who is NHCA?


We are a group of passionate hearing conservationists willing to share their expertise to prevent hearing loss. NHCA members include occupational and clinical audiologists, industrial hygienists, occupational health nurses, acoustical engineers and technicians, physicians, occupational health and safety professionals, military personnel, university professors, students, researchers and others with an interest in hearing conservation. 





Visit the Virtual Marketplace Year-Round! 

Learn more about NHCA’s sponsors by accessing profiles, videos, and other helpful links here.

Our Vision: To prevent hearing loss and other auditory disorders due to noise and secondary environmental factors in all sectors of society.

Our Mission: NHCA provides leadership, expertise, and education on hearing loss prevention strategies and services to the broader professional community and empowers and supports members through networking and advocacy.
 

Vidya Krull, PhD, CCC-A
Editor, NHCA E-News
[email protected]

Questions? Contact us at [email protected]. 
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