Hearing Loss News and Research

Latest Hearing Loss News and Research

Gene find sheds light on motor neuron diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Scientists have identified a gene in mice that plays a central role in the proper development of one of the nerve cells that goes bad in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, and some other diseases that affect our motor neurons.

22 Oct 2008

Genes that control cell death may play role in age-related hearing loss

Several genes that play a role in how our body's cells normally auto-destruct may play a role in age-related hearing loss, according to research published online in the journal Apoptosis - a journal devoted to the topic of cell suicide, or programmed cell death.

19 Oct 2008

Pump up the volume - but risk permanent hearing damage

Scientists are warning that listening to music through earphones, at high volumes, can cause permanent hearing damage - they say noise-induced hearing damage above 80-85 decibels is a known phenomenon and such damage can be prevented to a large extent by reducing the noise exposure levels and duration.

13 Oct 2008

Research shows mobile phones raise children's risk of brain cancer by five times

New research from Sweden is certain to alarm many as it has found that young people today are five times more likely to get brain cancer if they are mobile phones users.

22 Sep 2008

Teenager almost deaf after waiting too long for ear drum surgery

In the latest bungle involving an Australian hospital, a teenage boy in Tasmania has reportedly waited so long for surgery to repair his perforated ear drum that he is almost deaf.

4 Sep 2008

New guidelines for dealing with earwax

Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) specialists in the U.S. have come up with new guidelines for dealing with earwax.

2 Sep 2008

Earwax removal - new guidelines

The American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) will issue the first comprehensive clinical guidelines to help health care practitioners identify patients with cerumen (commonly referred to as earwax) impaction. The guidelines emphasize evidence-based management of cerumen impaction by clinicians, and inform patients of the purpose of ear wax in hearing health.

1 Sep 2008

Middle ear infections in childhood linked to obesity later in life

Researchers are reporting new evidence of a possible link between a history of moderate to severe middle ear infections in childhood and a tendency to be overweight later in life. Their study suggests that prompt diagnosis and treatment of middle ear infections - one of the most common childhood conditions requiring medical attention - may help fight obesity in some people.

20 Aug 2008

Inherited form of hearing loss stems from gene mutation

Pat Phalin learned she had hearing loss at 30, when she volunteered to give hearing tests at her local school. The pupils heard sounds she could not hear.

31 Jul 2008

Retirement could be hazardous for the health

A study by the ABS based on 2004-05 health data and labour force statistics on older workers aged 45 to 74, also took into account people not in the workforce and those too ill to work.

30 Jul 2008

Research on pre-eclampsia in mice may have important implications for humans

In a new March of Dimes-funded study of pre-eclampsia, a serious and potentially deadly disorder that affects about 5 percent of pregnancies, researchers have found results in mice that may have important implications for diagnosis and treatment in humans.

27 Jul 2008

FDA settles with Californian hearing device manufacturer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reached a settlement with California hearing device manufacturer Advanced Bionics LLC and its president and CEO Jeffrey Greiner over alleged violations of federal law

17 Jul 2008

Sudden loss of hearing might be an early sign of stroke

Preliminary research culled from a national medical insurance records database in Taiwan suggests that sudden loss of hearing might be an early sign of vulnerability to stroke, foreshadowing an actual cerebrovascular event by as much as two years, according to a study reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

27 Jun 2008

tRNA import occurs in humans - could lead to targeted therapies

Scientists have determined that human cells are able to shift important gene products into their own mitochondria, considered the power plants of cells. The finding could eventually lead to therapies for dozens of diseases.

24 Jun 2008

Discovery of mechanisms that direct cholinergic synapse assembly between neurons in vivo

Rapid information processing in the nervous system requires synapses, specialized contact sites between nerve cells and their targets. One particular synapse type, cholinergic, uses the chemical transmitter acetylcholine to communicate between nerve cells. Cholinergic synapses are essential for normal learning and memory, arousal, attention, and all autonomic (involuntary) nervous system functions.

16 Jun 2008

Hearing loss twice as common in adults with diabetes

Hearing loss is about twice as common in adults with diabetes compared to those who do not have the disease, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

16 Jun 2008

Presidential candidates comment on causes of autism - Association says evidence-based approach should guide national autism

Noting that speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are often the first group of professionals to recognize that a child has autism and are central to providing treatment, the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) sent letters this month to Presidential candidates Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama that advise taking an evidence-based approach to the vaccine controversy surrounding what causes autism and to policy development related to care.

16 Jun 2008

Smoking and obesity linked to hearing loss

One of the largest studies into the risk factors for age-related hearing loss has found that smoking and body mass index (BMI) are two of the main culprits whereas alcohol has a protective effect, but high levels of work noise remain the biggest risk.

11 Jun 2008

People with tune deafness able to detect a wrong note unconsciously

People with tune deafness aren't able to tell when a musician accidentally strikes the wrong note in a song, but their brains know the difference. Researchers from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health, have found that people with tune deafness, an auditory processing disorder in which a person with normal hearing has trouble distinguishing notes in a melody, are able to detect a wrong note unconsciously.

11 Jun 2008

Smoking and body mass index found to be risk factors in age-related hearing loss

Smoking and body mass index (BMI) are risk factors in the development of age-related hearing loss, says one of the largest-ever studies into risk factors for hearing loss - but alcohol has a protective effect.

11 Jun 2008