Scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum München, led by Professor Martin Hrabé de Angelis, director of the Institute of Experimental Genetics, have developed a new mouse model with a genetic mutant in which a single base of a specific microRNA seed region has been altered. Mice carrying this miR-96 mutation suffer progressive hearing loss as they get [...]
Scientists thought they had a good model to explain how the inner ear translates vibrations in the air into sounds heard by the brain. Now, based on new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine, it looks like parts of the model are wrong.
Many people may not be aware that they are battling a silent health crisis - one that affects over 30 million people. In fact, hearing loss, the third leading health condition among Americans, impacts one in 10 people, about 40 percent of whom are younger than 65 years old. Recognizing the severity of these statistics, [...]
Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have created lip-reading computers that can distinguish between different languages. Computers that can read lips are already in development but this is the first time they have been ‘taught’ to recognise different languages. The discovery could have practical uses for deaf people, for law [...]
Utah and Texas researchers have learned how quiet sounds are magnified by bundles of tiny, hair-like tubes atop “hair cells” in the ear: when the tubes dance back and forth, they act as “flexoelectric motors” that amplify sound mechanically. “We are reporting discovery of a new nanoscale motor in the ear,” says [...]
Researchers have identified tiny molecules that may lead to big breakthroughs in the treatment of hearing loss and deafness. An international team, including researchers from Tel Aviv University in Israel and Purdue University, found that lack of these molecules causes abnormal development of the inner ear and leads to progressive hearing loss.
Despite modern medicine, one in 1,000 American babies are born deaf. The numbers increase markedly with age, with more than 50% of seniors in the United States experiencing some form of hearing loss. But the era of the hearing aid, and shouting at aging in-laws, may soon be over. A new, [...]
Scenic southwestern Ontario will host the 34th annual conference of the Canadian Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (CASLPA), April 29 - May 2. Professionals from across Canada will gather in the Forest City, London, Ontario, in pursuit of leading edge professional knowledge.
GPs are being urged to adopt online sign language translation software after concerns were raised at Deaf Day 2009, the UK’s largest event for the deaf community at City Lit in London. At the event, deaf people took the opportunity to put their names to a demand for surgeries to use SignTranslate. This internet-based translation [...]
Qing Yin Zheng, M.D., assistant professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Genetics at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been awarded a five year .66 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Project Grant Program (R01) to explore the impact [...]