Feature Channels: Hearing

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Researchers at Johns Hopkins have mapped the sound-processing part of the mouse brain in a way that keeps both the proverbial forest and the trees in view. Their imaging technique allows zooming in and out on views of brain activity within mice, and it enabled the team to watch brain cells light up as mice “called” to each other. The results, which represent a step toward better understanding how our own brains process language, appear online July 31 the journal Neuron.

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Understanding how hearing works has long been hampered by challenges associated with seeing inside the inner ear, but technology being developed by a team of researchers, including one from Texas A&M University, is generating some of the most detailed images of the inner ear to date.

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Retired NFL players may be at risk for permanent hearing loss and tinnitus, according to Loyola University Medical Center ear surgeon John Leonetti, MD.

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Henry Ford Health System, in collaboration with Wayne State University, is one of four sites worldwide involved in a clinical trial that will test a device that uses nervous system stimuli to rewire parts of the brain, in hopes of significantly reducing or removing tinnitus, a chronic ringing of the head or ears that affects more than 50 million people.

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One in 10 Americans has hearing loss that affects their ability to understand normal speech. Exposure to excessive noise also can damage hearing in higher pitches. “Hearing loss due to excessive noise is totally preventable, unlike hearing loss due to old age or a medical condition,” Dr. Bhayani says.

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Children with profound deafness who receive a cochlear implant had as much as five times the risk of having delays in areas of working memory, controlled attention, planning and conceptual learning as children with normal hearing, according to Indiana University research published in JAMA Otolaryngology.

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Both high and low frequency hearing impairment have been linked with sleep apnea in a new study of nearly 14,000 individuals.

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The ability to discern pitch – to hear the difference between “cat,” “bat” and “hat,” for example – hinges on remarkable gradations in specialized cells within the inner ear. New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders has explained, for the first time, what controls these cells’ development and patterning – findings crucial to efforts to reverse hearing loss caused by age, loud sounds or other factors.

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Tinnitus affects roughly 50 million people and is now the No. 1 disability among our men and women in uniform, costing the U.S. about $1.7 billion a year to treat. But even with these staggering numbers, there's still no know cure for tinnitus. Today, Dr. Michael Seidman, a national leader in the treatment and study of tinnitus, will present a culmination of years of research at the Combined OTO Spring Meetings in Las Vegas.

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Previously, hair cells have long been considered the most vulnerable elements in the inner ear, but researchers have now shown that nerve fibers are even more vulnerable to damage. They will report their findings of “hidden hearing loss” at the 167th meeting of the ASA.

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When loved ones lose their hearing, audiologists often counsel spouses and family members to speak clearly so they are better understood. But hearing loss professionals say that this well-meaning advice can backfire: clear speech can make you sound angry. A new study, to be presented at the 167th Meeting of the ASA, supports the idea that clear speech can carry negative overtones even when the phrase itself is emotionally neutral.

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Dr. Matthew Bush combines his Appalachian background and clinical expertise to understand and address delayed access to hearing health care for rural children.

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Thirteen-year-old Eliza Peters owes her hearing to her ear surgeries and hearing aids. Now she is paying back by raising money for other children who need hearing aids, but cannot afford them. Her Hear the Cheers! fundraising effort has raised $18,000 so far. Last year, Eliza’s fundraising drive, Hear the Cheers!, raised $18,000.

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After losing an ear to cancer, a patient received a silicone ear that looks remarkably real. A surgeon implanted three small metal posts in the side of the patient's head. Each post is fitted with a magnet. The prosthetic ear also is magnetized, so it sticks to the metal posts.

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Minimizing a person’s sight for as little as a week may help improve the brain’s ability to process hearing.

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Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Massachusetts General Hospital have demonstrated, for the first time, that aspirin intake correlates with halted growth of vestibular schwannomas (also known as acoustic neuromas), a sometimes lethal intracranial tumor that typically causes hearing loss and tinnitus.

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On his way to creating a digital accordion, SUNY Buffalo State assistant music professor J. Tomás Henriques stumbled upon a device with unique therapeutic applications that he envisions using to treat speech and hearing disorders and memory loss, among other things.

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Although the brain becomes smaller with age, the shrinkage seems to be fast-tracked in older adults with hearing loss, according to the results of a study by researchers from Johns Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging. The findings add to a growing list of health consequences associated with hearing loss, including increased risk of dementia, falls, hospitalizations, and diminished physical and mental health overall.

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A new study finds that ear infections account for approximately $2.88 billion in added health care expenses annually and is a significant health-care utilization concern.

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Implanting tubes in the ears of children who have persistent or recurrent episodes of otitis media with effusion (OME) improves hearing over a short period (up to 9 months post surgery), but this procedure is less likely to improve hearing, speech, language, or other functional outcomes over periods longer than that, according to results of a systematic review by the RTI-University of North Carolina Evidence-based Practice Center.