HearingTracker
Press release · Public health & policy← The news desk

✦ The Dispatch

Tani Austin Honored with Prestigious 2026 Herizon Award for Transforming Global Hearing Healthcare

A dispatch from AudiologyOnline — filed

Woman in yellow jacket standing on a conference stage beside a large screen displaying "Believe Belong Become" and her name and Starkey title.
✦ PlateWoman in yellow jacket standing on a conference stage beside a large screen displaying "Believe Belong Become" and her name and Starkey title.

Tani Austin, Vice Chair of Starkey and Co-Founder of Starkey Hearing Foundation, has been named a 2026 Herizon Award honoree by the Business Intelligence Group

Continue reading at AudiologyOnline

✦ The floor

Discussion

Signed responses from readers of the wire.

✦ Clinical Takeaway ✦

No actionable change — this is an industry award announcement with no clinical or practice implications.

✦ Why It Matters ✦

Recognizing high-profile philanthropic leadership in audiology can elevate public awareness of global hearing healthcare access, but this announcement does not advance clinical evidence or practice.

✦ Key Points ✦
  1. 01Tani Austin, Vice Chair of Starkey, named a 2026 Herizon Award honoree by the Business Intelligence Group.
  2. 02Award recognizes contributions to global hearing healthcare access and philanthropy.
  3. 03Austin co-founded the Starkey Hearing Foundation, which distributes hearing aids internationally.
  4. 04This is an industry/trade press release, not a clinical or research announcement.
✦ Claims & Evidence ✦

Tani Austin has transformed global hearing healthcare through her work at Starkey and the Starkey Hearing Foundation.

press releasepromotional
✦ Related stories ✦
PU
PubMed·Journal article·Public health & policy·

Hearing loss, hearing-aid use, and mortality risk: individual participant data meta-analysis of population-based studies from Australia, Iceland, and the USA and a replication study from Norway

This meta-analysis provides the strongest population-level evidence to date that hearing loss is associated with increased mortality and that hearing-aid use may attenuate that risk — audiologists should use this evidence when counselling patients on uptake.

PU
PubMed·Journal article·Public health & policy·

Personal listening device usage, leisure noise exposure, hearing protection usage and hearing at standard frequencies: a longitudinal study from child/adolescence to young adulthood

Audiologists working with adolescents and young adults should monitor noise exposure habits longitudinally; if this study confirms hearing threshold shifts tied to device use, it strengthens counselling on safe listening — but clinical guidance changes should await full results...

PU
PubMed·Journal article·Public health & policy·

Consumer preferences for hearing health care information and services as described by older adults surveyed in Australia, Canada, England, and the United States

Findings from this cross-national survey may highlight patient-reported barriers and communication preferences that audiologists can use to improve outreach and service delivery, but practice changes should await review of the full results and their applicability to local...