Hearing Loss News and Research

Latest Hearing Loss News and Research

New therapy has potential to repair cells damaged by noise, prevent hearing loss

More than 700 million people worldwide suffer from some degree of hearing loss, including an estimated 20 percent of Americans over the age of 12, according to medical experts.

6 Nov 2019

New model based on dynamic neural code can help humans to localize sounds

One of the enduring puzzles of hearing loss is the decline in a person's ability to determine where a sound originates, a key survival faculty that allows animals - from lizards to humans - to pinpoint the location of danger, prey and group members.

6 Nov 2019

Scientists discover gene mutation involved in paraplegia and epilepsy

Researchers have made an important discovery that could help scientists understand the cause of paraplegia and epilepsy.

1 Nov 2019

Study shows how measles virus causes immune amnesia

Over the last decade, evidence has mounted that the measles vaccine protects in not one but two ways: Not only does it prevent the well-known acute illness with spots and fever that frequently sends children to the hospital, but it also appears to protect from other infections over the long term.

31 Oct 2019

Socially housed and isolated mice may be poor research models for humans

Animal models can serve as gateways for understanding many human communication disorders. Insights into the genetic paths possibly responsible for conditions such as autism and schizophrenia often begin by studying acoustic behavior in mice.

25 Oct 2019

Zebrafish study provides new insights into the cause of congenital hearing disorders

A study of the genetic make-up of zebrafish has provided brand new insights into the cause of congenital hearing disorders in humans.

23 Oct 2019

Researchers receive $3.2 million NIH grant to pursue a deeper understanding of Down syndrome

Mount Sinai researchers have been awarded a $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to pursue a deeper understanding of Down syndrome, the most common genetic cause of intellectual and developmental disabilities in children and young adults, affecting more than 200,000 individuals in the United States.

22 Oct 2019

New study solves oldest case of deafness in human prehistory

An international team of researchers including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York, has published a new study examining a 430,000-year-old cranium of a human ancestor that was previously described as deaf, representing the oldest case of deafness in human prehistory.

15 Oct 2019

Charities collaborate to study the impact of tinnitus on professional musicians

The British Tinnitus Association (BTA) is partnering with the musicians’ charity Help Musicians UK (HMUK) to conduct research into the impact of tinnitus on professional musicians. Tinnitus is the sensation of hearing sounds in the head or ears for which there is no external source.

4 Oct 2019

Mild-to-moderate hearing loss during childhood can lead to changes in neural processing of sounds

Deafness in early childhood is known to lead to lasting changes in how sounds are processed in the brain, but new research published today in eLife shows that even mild-to-moderate levels of hearing loss in young children can lead to similar changes.

1 Oct 2019

New insight into cause of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

The nervous system is the body’s control center, which is extremely fast in decoding messages from the different nerves in the body. This network should be intact and healthy. When something is wrong with the network, it affects the brain’s main functions.

1 Oct 2019

Study identifies 44 genes linked to age-related hearing loss

A new study published today in The American Journal of Human Genetics has identified 44 genes linked to age-related hearing loss giving a much clearer understanding of how the condition develops and potential treatments.

26 Sep 2019

The ear's sensitivity to sound is controlled by outer hair cells

The human inner ear has a type of cell called the outer hair cell. These were thought to amplify sounds from the environment. However, a new study based on hearing in gerbils shows these cells are probably involved in regulating the sensitivity of the ear to sound. This could help find ways to preserve good hearing by protecting these cells from destruction.

25 Sep 2019

Ear's tiny outer hair cells regulate sound sensitivity, study shows

The ear’s tiny outer hair cells adjust the sensitivity of neighboring inner hair cells to sound levels rather than acting like an amplifier, suggests a new study published today in eLife.

24 Sep 2019

$Deep brain stimulation found to be safe, effective in the treatment of refractory severe tinnitus$

Deep brain stimulation found to be safe, effective in the treatment of refractory severe tinnitus

Researchers from the University of California San Francisco and Veterans Affairs Health Care System, San Francisco investigated the safety and efficacy of deep brain stimulation in the treatment of refractory severe tinnitus in a small group of patients.

24 Sep 2019

AAN recommends assessment of people aged 65 and older for memory problems

People with mild cognitive impairment have thinking and memory problems but usually do not know it because such problems are not severe enough to affect their daily activities.

19 Sep 2019

Speech difficulties in five-year-old internationally adopted children with cleft palate

In a group of internationally adopted children with cleft lip and/or palate, speech at age five is impaired compared to a corresponding group of children born in Sweden, a study shows.

7 Sep 2019

Chronic conductive hearing loss linked to speech recognition deficits

Chronic conductive hearing loss, which can result from middle-ear infections, has been linked to speech recognition deficits, according to the results of a new study, led by scientists at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and published September 6 in the journal Ear and Hearing.

7 Sep 2019

Hearing aid use linked to lower risks of dementia, depression and falls

Use of hearing aids was linked with lower risks of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, depression, anxiety, and injurious falls in an analysis of medical information on 114,862 older adults with hearing loss. The findings are published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

5 Sep 2019

'Junk food' diet can lead to blindness

An extreme case of "fussy" or "picky" eating caused a young patient's blindness, according to a new case report published today [2 Sep 2019] in Annals of Internal Medicine.

3 Sep 2019