A determined effort by Audiology teams across the country has led to 99% of people receiving hearing aids or other appropriate treatment within the government’s 18-week target. Figures for February 2009, just released by the Department of Health, show that the situation has been improving every month since April 2008. The improvements have come about [...]
Siemens Hearing Instruments has kicked off its new education initiative during Deaf Awareness Week with a visit by its hearing ambassador Kellie Moody to a Birmingham based deaf school. The visit and the launch of an education focused website ties into this year’s Deaf Awareness theme of ‘look at me’.
Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have elucidated the action of a protein, harmonin, which is involved in the mechanics of hearing. This finding sheds new light on the workings of mechanotransduction, the process by which cells convert mechanical stimuli into electrical activity.
Older adults may have difficulty understanding speech because of age-related changes in brain tissue, according to new research in the May 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The study shows that older adults with the most difficulty understanding spoken words had less brain tissue in a region important for speech recognition. The findings may [...]
Picture yourself at a family dinner. Your grandchild, who speaks softly, is telling a story about their kindergarten class while your adult son calls out from the kitchen, asking if you’ve heard any news about Aunt Irene. A TV chat show is on in the background. You are having difficulty ignoring the television chatter and [...]
Loneliness is the most common symptom associated with hearing loss, according to a national survey by Specsavers to mark Deaf Awareness Week (4-10 May). [1] More than half of those surveyed (64%) find themselves isolated from social situations because of badly managed hearing loss. One in [...]
Despite widespread concern about the impact of hearing loss on their quality of life, 49 percent of North Americans expose themselves at least once per week to potential harm and 61 percent haven’t had their hearing tested within the past five years, according to a new survey from Unitron and Angus Reid.
Scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered that the hormone estrogen plays a pivotal role in how the brain processes sounds. The findings, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, show for the first time that a sex hormone can directly affect auditory function, and point toward the possibility that estrogen controls [...]
Iron plays a large role in brain development in the womb, and new University of Rochester Medical Center research shows an iron deficiency may delay the development of auditory nervous system in preemies. This delay could affect babies ability to process sound which is critical for later language development in early childhood.
Children and teenagers are frequently exposed to potentially damaging noise levels in schools, at home, and in sports, but there has been little reported on their risk for noise-induced hearing loss. In fact, three million children under the age of 18 have some hearing loss, and one factor is external noises.