Feature Channels: Hearing

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Massachusetts Eye and Ear researchers surveyed 337 patients with hearing loss to better understand the language they use with communication partners to disclose their disability. Their findings, published online in the journal Ear and Hearing on October 28, 2015, may be used to develop resources for health care professionals to provide their patients with strategies to disclose hearing loss successfully and effectively in interactions with others.

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Massachusetts Eye and Ear investigators have shown that sound deprivation in adult mice causes irreversible damage to the inner ear. The findings, published in PLOS ONE, suggest that chronic conductive hearing loss, such as that caused by recurrent ear infections, leads to permanent hearing impairment if it remains untreated.

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Some nerve cells in the inner ear can signal tissue damage in a way similar to pain-sensing nerve cells in the body, according to new research from Johns Hopkins. If the finding, discovered in rats, is confirmed in humans, it may lead to new insights into hyperacusis, an increased sensitivity to loud noises that can lead to severe and long-lasting ear pain.

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Scientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have discovered that movement of protein within hair cells of the inner ear shows signs of renewal mechanism. The investigator’s findings will be the cover paper in the Nov. 17 edition of Cell Reports and are now available online

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We use sight to judge distance. Now, a new study from the University of Rochester reveals that our brains also use sound delays to fine-tune what our eyes see when estimating distances.

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A first-of-its-kind study discovered that many hard-of-hearing children who receive optimal, early services are able to “catch up or significantly close the gaps with their hearing peers,” say researchers at the University of Iowa, Boys Town National Research Hospital, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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MedStar Washington Hospital Center has installed an innovative videophone booth for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing to communicate with others in real-time. The Sorenson Video Relay Service® (SVRS®) videophone allows those who use American Sign Language (ASL) to place phone calls through a sign language interpreter.

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Vestigial organs, such as the wisdom teeth in humans, are those that have become functionless through the course of evolution. Now, a psychologist at the University of Missouri studying vestigial muscles behind the ears in humans has determined that ancient neural circuits responsible for moving the ears, still may be responsive to sounds that attract our attention. Neuroscientists studying auditory function could use these ancient muscles to study positive emotions and infant hearing deficits.

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New studies from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania clarify how two crucial features of audition are managed by the brain.

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A study of up to 433,390 UK adults, led by The University of Manchester, has linked being under and overweight at birth with poorer hearing, vision and cognition in middle age.

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Adam Zawislak has a passion for music, rock ‘n’ roll in particular. And as a DJ for STEEL 93 online radio, Adam loves connecting with other music fans. “We all have memories rooted in music, and these songs become your life’s soundtrack,” Adam says. Without a doubt, Adam would do anything to keep hearing his favorite tunes – which is why he panicked when he started losing his hearing three years ago.

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Students and faculty in UW-Milwaukee's American Sign Language and interpreter training programs reach out to the hearing community with education and events celebrating deaf culture and history.

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Hearing loss is one of the most common birth defects, with more than 12,000 children in the United States affected each year. Three students in Wichita State University's biomedical engineering program recognized this issue and designed their senior project to create a therapeutic toy to provide early intervention therapy for children with auditory disabilities.

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Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have found how even brief exposure to sudden sounds or mild trauma can form permanent, long-term brain connections, or memories, in a specific region of the brain. Moreover, the research team, working with rats, says it was able to chemically stimulate those biological pathways in the locus coeruleus — the area of the brain best known for releasing the “fight or flight” hormone noradrenaline — to heighten and improve the animals’ hearing.

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Jet fuel, when combined with sustained noise, may cause brain-related injury and lead to multiple conditions.

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Hearing loss in adults is under treated despite evidence that hearing aid technology can significantly lessen depression and anxiety and improve cognitive functioning, according to a presentation at the American Psychological Association’s 123rd Annual Convention.

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There is nothing more refreshing than hopping into a cool pool on a hot summer day. But this relaxing summer activity can quickly become a real pain if you develop swimmer’s ear.

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People with a common form of hearing loss not helped by hearing aids achieved significant and sometimes profound improvements in their hearing and understanding of speech with hybrid cochlear implant devices, according to a new multicenter study led by specialists at NYU Langone Medical Center.

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For children with a common middle-ear problem, a simple procedure with a nasal balloon can reduce the impact of hearing loss and avoid unnecessary and ineffective use of antibiotics, according to a new study led by researchers from the University of Southampton.

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Studying mice, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine​ in St. Louis have identified two signaling molecules that are required for the proper development of a part of the inner ear called the cochlea. Without both signals, the embryo does not produce enough of the cells that eventually make up the adult cochlea, resulting in a shortened cochlear duct and impaired hearing.

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Conventional wisdom has long blamed age-related hearing loss almost entirely on the death of sensory hair cells in the inner ear, but research from neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins has provided new information about the workings of nerve cells that suggests otherwise.

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Fireworks can result in severe burns, scars and disfigurement that can last a lifetime. Fireworks that are often thought to be safe, such as sparklers, can reach temperatures above 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, and can burn users and bystanders. Injuries most often occur on the face or hand, and burns make up roughly 50% of firework injuries.

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Loud noise hurts hearing. Health tips and warning signs from Candace Blank, audiologist at Loyola University Health System.

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They’ve packed the sunscreen and bug spray to protect their little ones while enjoying a Fourth of July celebration, but many parents don’t think about the potential damage that the loud fireworks can do to a young child’s ears.

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Sit down with a friend in a quiet restaurant and begin talking, just before the dinner crowd’s arrival. Business is slow at first, but picks up quickly, just like the sound level. Discussions are everywhere, colliding and competing with the other noises.

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Sonia Rocha-Sanchez, Ph.D., an associate professor of oral biology in the Creighton University School of Dentistry, and an expert in the biology and physiology of the inner ear, has developed a method to temporally modify the expression of the retinoblastoma-1 gene in mice. Modulation of the RB1 gene can allow for the regrowth of cells in the inner ear and potentially restore hearing and balance caused by the loss of sensory hair cells.

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Ray Hull, professor of communication sciences and disorders in audiology/neurosciences at Wichita State University, has concluded research analyzing 84 years of work from scientists worldwide into the connection between cardiovascular health and the ability to hear and understand what others are saying. Hull’s work connected the dots from 70 scientific studies to confirm a direct link.

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An existing anti-stroke drug is an effective treatment for middle-ear infections, showing the ability to suppress mucus overproduction, improve bacterial clearance and reduce hearing loss, according to researchers at Georgia State University and the University of Rochester.

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“Noise-induced hearing loss can be permanent. The damage to the ear cannot be repaired, but there are options to improve the hearing,” says Candace Blank, AuD, audiologist chief, Loyola University Health System. Here are sample decibels of common sounds and tips to save hearing.

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“Being aware of the benchmarks of development can help caregivers and parents make sure children in their care are progressing appropriately,” says Kaitlyn Vogtner Trainor, speech-language pathologist at Loyola University Health System. "Lapses in development can also help identify medical conditions.”

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Researchers at the University of Colorado suggest that the portion of the brain devoted to hearing can become reorganized even with early-stage hearing loss, and may play a role in cognitive decline. They have applied fundamental principles of neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to forge new connections, to determine the ways it adapts to hearing loss, as well as the consequences of those changes, and their findings will be presented at ASA’s 169th meeting.

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Studies have shown that individuals with hearing loss or who are listening to degraded speech – think of a loud room -- have greater difficulty remembering and processing the spoken information than individuals who heard more clearly. Now researchers are investigating whether listening to accented speech similarly affects the brain's ability to process and store information. Their preliminary results suggest that foreign-accented speech, even when intelligible, may be slightly more difficult to recall than native speech.

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What affects how we hear? Do we hear sounds as they are, or do our expectations about what we are going to hear instantaneously shape the way sound is processed? These are questions that Bournemouth University’s (BU) Dr Emili Balaguer-Ballester and colleague Andre Rupp of Heidelberg University have been considering in their research into auditory central processing.

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Investigators from UB and other institutions have made a major breakthrough that provides new insights into how tinnitus, and the often co-occurring hyperacusis, might develop and be sustained.

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Deaf education lecturers at The University of Manchester are using the Swivl robot in school classrooms in a UK first for teacher training.

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The ability that some people have to use echoes to determine the position of an otherwise silent object, in a similar way to bats and dolphins, requires good high-pitch hearing in both ears, according to new research from the University of Southampton.

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In a study on mice, cells that relay information from the ear to the brain changed their behavior and structure in response to the noise level in the environment. Researchers think the adaptations could aid hearing in different conditions.

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To mark Better Hearing and Speech Month in May, Mount Sinai Health System experts are sharing tips and tools that identify and prevent speech, voice, and hearing impairments. Such impairments affect 43 million Americans.

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People who have osteoporosis face a 1.76-fold higher risk of developing sudden deafness than those who do not have the bone disease, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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‘Medic!’, ‘Hold fire!’ and grid references are amongst the highest priorities for soldiers to be able to hear while on duty, according to new research from the University of Southampton.

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Harris Health System is now using sign language video technology to better communicate with its hearing-impaired and hard-of-hearing patients. Connecting patients with physicians and nurses in a timely and convenient manner is one of the driving forces behind the new portable iPad®-equipped wheeled carts (similar to rolling blood-pressure stands) that act as in-person translators of American Sign Language for patients and staff at a moment’s notice. The program has four such carts complete with speakers and audio enhancement capability at Harris Health’s Ben Taub, Quentin Mease and Lyndon B. Johnson hospitals.

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Previous research indicated six weeks of treatment improved hearing, but new findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine reveal six months is better.

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Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear and the Harvard Medical School/ Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology have demonstrated that salicylates, a class of non-steroidal inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), reduced the proliferation and viability of cultured vestibular schwannoma cells that cause a sometimes lethal intracranial tumor that typically causes hearing loss and tinnitus.

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Sometimes patients with coclear implants need to have a second or "revision" implantation surgery because of device failure. A new study finds that adults age 65 and older do just as well in speech perception after revision cochlear implantation as those younger than 65.

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Scientists from Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School and Fudan University have shown that blocking the Notch pathway plays an essential role that determines cochlear progenitor cell proliferation capacity.

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Micheal L. Dent, a University at Buffalo psychologist, listens to what is inaudible to others. And what she’s hearing might one day help us better understand human hearing loss.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered how one gene is essential to hearing, uncovering a cause of deafness and suggesting new avenues for therapies.

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Black children are less likely to be diagnosed with and less likely to receive broad-spectrum antibiotics for ear infections than white children are, a new study has found. But the discrepancy in prescribing fewer broad-spectrum antibiotics means black children actually are more likely to receive care that aligns with the recommended guidelines for treating ear infections. Possible behaviors explaining the trend are overdiagnosis and overtreatment in white children and underdiagnosis and undertreatment in black children. The report appears in Pediatrics online on November 17, 2014.

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Boston researchers detail the types of otologic injury suffered by victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and report on the outcomes of patients undergoing otologic treatment in this paper in Otology & Neurology.

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After the Boston Marathon bombings, more than 100 people were treated for trauma affecting the ears and hearing—with many having persistent or worsening hearing loss or other symptoms, reports a study in the December issue of Otology & Neurotology. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.