Hearing Loss News and Research

Latest Hearing Loss News and Research

Diabetes may cause women to experience hearing loss as they age

Having diabetes may cause women to experience a greater degree of hearing loss as they age, especially if the metabolic disorder is not well controlled with medication, according to a new study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

27 Jan 2012

Three-parent children may be born in near future in an effort to combat mitochondrial diseases

In the next couple of years the scientific community may witness creation of children with genetic material from three parents. British scientists want to start testing a new IVF technique to try to eradicate incurable genetic diseases such as muscular dystrophy. The concept took a leap forward yesterday after the Government announced a public consultation on whether the law should be changed to allow the technique.

22 Jan 2012

NimbleGen Sequence Capture 385K array identifies gene mutations linked with hereditary hearing loss

Hereditary hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in humans. A German research team led by Ingo Kurth from the Institute of Human Genetics at the University Hospital Jena, Germany, used a number of different methods, including Roche's NimbleGen Custom Sequence Capture 385K array to identify the gene mutated in the disease locus of the X-chromosome of a Spanish family with hereditary hearing loss.

13 Jan 2012

Researchers identify gene required for proper development of mouse inner ear

Providing clues to deafness, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a gene that is required for proper development of the mouse inner ear.

4 Jan 2012

If misused, popular noisy toys may permanently damage children's hearing

While Road Rippers Lightning Rods, Let's Rock Elmo and the I Am T-Pain musical microphone might be sought-after gifts this holiday season, parents should ensure that their children don't risk permanent hearing damage by misusing them.

17 Dec 2011

Many parents do not think their teens are at risk for noise-induced hearing loss

National data demonstrate that 1 in 6 U.S. adolescents has high-frequency hearing loss. A new report from the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health shows that many parents don't think their teens are at risk.

13 Dec 2011

Increased sensitivity to low frequency vibration found in people with inherited hearing loss

People with a certain form of inherited hearing loss have increased sensitivity to low frequency vibration, according to a study by Professor Thomas Jentsch of the Leibniz-Institut f-r Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP)/Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Professor Gary Lewin (MDC), conducted in cooperation with clinicians from Madrid, Spain and Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

9 Dec 2011

CSL partners with NIH to study Cytomegalovirus, a common cause of abnormalities in newborns

CSL Limited announced today that it is partnering with the world’s largest health research agency, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), to study a potential new treatment for the prevention of congenital CMV infection, one of the most common known causes of congenital (i.e., present at birth) abnormalities in the developed world.

7 Dec 2011

New insight into why aminoglycoside antibiotics cause deafness

Peter Steyger's research on hearing is very personal. That's because Steyger - a research scientist with the Oregon Hearing Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University - is deaf. Now Steyger has published groundbreaking research that is as personal as it gets. The study gives scientists new insight into why a specific class of antibiotics causes deafness - the same class of antibiotics that caused Steyger's deafness as a child in England 48 years ago. The study was published this month in Scientific Reports, part of the Nature Publishing Group.

2 Dec 2011

Hospice family caregivers require unique care needs

A study led by the University of Kentucky researcher Elaine Wittenberg-Lyles found that hospice family caregivers are "second order patients" themselves and require their own unique care needs.

1 Dec 2011

New database for scientists researching fission yeast

A new database promises to be an invaluable resource to scientists who use a unique single-celled fungus to study human diseases.

29 Nov 2011

State roundup: Another Medi-Cal lawsuit; medical homes in Tenn.; Pa. moving forward on exchanges

Some California hospitals would take a significant and long-lasting hit from Medi-Cal reimbursement cuts recently approved by CMS, according to the California Hospital Association, which this week filed a petition in federal court to put a temporary halt to those reductions. CHA's lawsuit and injunction request are separate from the court action taken earlier this week by the California Medical Association and other provider organizations.

24 Nov 2011

Mutations that affect lysosomes play a role in causing persistent stuttering

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have obtained new evidence that at least some persistent stuttering is caused by mutations in a gene governing not speech, but a metabolic pathway involved in recycling old cell parts.

23 Nov 2011

Study reveals specific functional deficit in inner ear mechanotransduction channels

National Institutes of Health-funded researchers have identified two proteins that may be the key components of the long-sought after mechanotransduction channel in the inner ear-the place where the mechanical stimulation of sound waves is transformed into electrical signals that the brain recognizes as sound.

22 Nov 2011

Gene-therapy trial to restore hearing in deaf mice

Researchers have found long-sought genes in the sensory hair cells of the inner ear that, when mutated, prevent sound waves from being converted to electric signals - a fundamental first step in hearing. The team, co-led by Jeffrey Holt, PhD, in the department of otolaryngology at Children-s Hospital Boston, and Andrew Griffith, MD, PhD, of the NIH-s National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), then restored these electrical signals in the sensory cells of deaf mice by introducing normal genes.

22 Nov 2011

Loyola surgeon first in the Chicago to implant Esteem hearing device

Lesa Merlo's hearing loss was so severe she had to read her children's lips when they talked to her. Then Dr. Sam Marzo of Loyola University Medical Center implanted a new hearing device in her middle ear. "I could hear their real laugh for the first time since they were babies," she said. "It was different, clear, pure and more beautiful than I could have ever imagined."

17 Nov 2011

UT Dallas students and faculty win three ASHA competitive awards

UT Dallas students and faculty have won three competitive awards from the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA), which will present the prizes at its annual conference this week in San Diego.

17 Nov 2011

Hearing loss affects one in five Americans: Study

A new study has shown that one out of five Americans that are 12 years or older, suffer from hearing loss. This new research was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine and is led by Frank R. Lin, of Johns Hopkins University. The study was based on data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys (NHANES) that has been gathered since 1971.

16 Nov 2011

Gallaudet University, UC Davis to co-sponsor Visual Learning Summit

How deaf children learn to read will be one of the topics of a conference at UC Davis Nov. 18-19. The Visual Learning Summit is co-sponsored by the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain, Gallaudet University's Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning, and the departments of psychology and linguistics at UC Davis.

16 Nov 2011

Nearly one-fifth of Americans have severe hearing loss

Nearly a fifth of all Americans 12 years or older have hearing loss so severe that it may make communication difficult, according to a new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers and published in the Nov. 14 Archives of Internal Medicine.

15 Nov 2011