Newsletter 3 - published December 1997 

First of all I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a very  prosperous 1998. 

In earlier newsletters we have reported on our efforts to transform the new Statutes and Bylaws of the ISA, accepted by the General Assembly in Bari, into a shape that was acceptable for a Swiss lawyer, Geneva in Switzerland being the official seat of the Society. We are happy to announce that this was finally achieved and the major part of this somewhat bigger newsletter is dedicated to the publication of these new Statutes and bylaws. Please, file the Statutes and Bylaws with other ISA material as the changes will take effect at our next meeting in Buenos Aires and will affect procedures within the Society.

A consequence of the new Rules is a change in structure and
functioning of the ISA. This will have several direct consequences: 

     The possibility of affiliated membership is now open. The
     Board has actively been engaged in exploring the possibilities
     to involve a number of organizations in ISA. We have
     approached a number of national and regional Audiology
     Societies, at least twice (in 1996 and in 1997). The result is
     that we have one affiliated member in 1996, The American
     Speech- and Hearing Association (ASHA) and three more
     members from 1997 on, the American Academy of
     Audiology (AAA), the European Federation of Audiology
     Societies (EFAS) and the PanAmerican Society of Audiology
     (PASA). 
     The possibility of associated membership is now open. It
     means that people involved in Audiology, either clinical or
     research, without a University degree, can become member.
     This membership has not, yet, been promoted very actively.
     It will be pursued in connection with the affiliated members.
     If you know of someone who would be interested, don’t
     hesitate to apply for associated membership. Now that the
     possibility has been created, we have to use the opportunity. 
     The structure of the General Assembly will change. The
     General Assembly will change from an Assembly of members
     to an Assembly of representatives. Those members represent
     different groups like the full members, the associate members
     and the affiliated members and are either voting or
     non-voting members. The representatives of the full
     members are elected according to regions: Africa, Asia,
     Europe, North America, South America and Western Pacific.
     Based on a count of the membership at the end of 1997, the
     number of voting members and non-voting members will be
     for Europe 4 and 8, for North America 2 and 4 which may
     rise to 3 and 6 for next year, for Western Pacific 2 and 4, for
     South America 1 and 2, for Africa 1 and 2 and for Asia 1 and
     1. Further members will be 1 voting and 1 non-voting
     member for ASHA, AAA, PASA and EFAS each. We need
     names of candidates for the full-members representatives as
     the affiliated members will appoint their own representatives. 
     The Board will change also and will consist, after Buenos
     Aires, of a president, a past-president, a president-elect (all
     with a 2-year term of office, but serving consecutive terms),
     a secretary-general and an assistant secretary-general (both
     with a 6-year term) and a member at large representing the
     affiliated members. In view of earlier elections we only need
     a member at large. This implies that no election of Board
     members is necessary. 
     There will be three standing committees in ISA, the Congress
     Organizing Committee, the Scientific Committee and the
     Publications Committee. Most members of these committees
     are appointed according to their function as a Board member,
     a president of a congress, an editor-in-chief etc. There are
     also members at large from the General Assembly added to
     these committees, that have to be elected: 1 for the Congress
     Organizing Committee and 2 for each of the other
     Committees. We would appreciate receiving names of
     candidates for these functions. 

Further changes will be the involvement in a number of activities
of CIOMS and WHO and Hearing International and the visibility at
congresses of affiliated members. For the first time there will be an
ISA lecture at the AAA-meeting in Los Angeles in April 1998. The
international character of ISA will be shown by a number of
lectures on European research in the field of signal processing in
digital hearing aids.

Although there is little space left, I want to include one
contribution from a member. To balance with the heavy, legal
material, two reports from the Guardian Newspaper are
presented, submitted by S.D.G. Stephens, Cardiff. The other
interesting reports I received (from Australia, Costa Rica, USA
and Russia) will be published in the next newsletter.

Man who shouted in his wife’s ear charged with assault 

David Pallister

The Guardian, 24-10-97

A man said to have bawled at his wife so loudly that she now wears a
hearing aid, appeared in court yesterday, charged with assault and causing her actual bodily harm.

Peter Pryor denied the charges arising from a series of incidents in 1995
and 1996 when the couple, who are now divorced, ran a private nutrition
business at their farmhouse near Ilfracamble in Devon. 

Christine Pryor, aged 54, told Exeter crown court her 58-year-old
husband suffered from tinnitus - a ringing in the ears. As their relationship deteriorated the rows got worse.

"I was in the kitchen preparing a meal and he just came up behind me,
held my arms down by my sides, put his mouth over my ear and shouted at me", she told the court.

"He had his mouth over my ear. He went to the right ear first and he said
something to the effect of I’m going to make you suffer like I do."

"He said it so loud I cannot explain what it was like. I was petrified. I felt
as if he knew what he was doing and was purposefully trying to hurt me."

"After that I heard strange noises in my ear. There were whizzing,
humming and sometimes ringing and I just could not hear clearly".

Mrs. Pryor was referred to the North Devon District hospital at
Barnstaple but there was a third attack, she said, on the night before her
consultation.

The doctors told her that she also had tinnitus now, and needed a hearing aid for her right ear and a pulsating device to mask the noise at night. The case continues.

Man convicted of damaging wife’s hearing by yelling 

Alison Daniels

The Guardian, 25-10-97

A man who yelled at his wife so loudly that she now has tinnitus was
convicted yesterday of causing her actual bodily harm.

Christine Pryor, aged 54, has to wear a hearing aid and a pulsating device
at night to mask the ringing noise in her ears, because of three screaming
rows in 1995 and 1996.

Peter Pryor, aged 58, whom she married in 1961 and with whom she ran a
business until last year, admitted at Exeter crown court that he had raised
his voice a number of times after they began divorce proceedings in 1993. But he denied that he had decided to harm his wife.

Mrs. Pryor told the court that her husband, who suffers himself from
deafness and tinnitus, had held her arms down, put his mouth over her
ears and shouted: "I’m going to make you suffer like I do". She felt as if
he was purposely trying to hurt her.

Mr. Pryor, of Barnstaple, denied this incident had happened. "I do not
feel I suffer with my tinnitus..... I do not wear a hearing aid."

He said he had not known that his wife had an appointment to see an ear
specialist the day after the third shouting incident. He said she had had
ear problems for most of their marriage.

But consultant John Riddington-Young said Mrs. Pryor’s symptoms were consistent with exposure to one or more loud noises. Damage was likely to be permanent.

Sentencing was deferred.