This July, House Ear Institute (HEI) celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the first pediatric cochlear implant. HEI received FDA approval for a clinical trial in July 1980 to implant three patients under the age of 18 with the single-channel cochlear implant. The single-channel device had been developed at HEI by William House, M.D., in the [...]
Those ubiquitous wires connecting listeners to you-name-the-sounds from invisible MP3 players — whether of Bach, Miles Davis or, more likely today, Lady Gaga — only hint at music’s effect on the soul throughout the ages…
Using a new type of “vocal signature” technology that focuses on sound patterns rather than words in child vocalizations and baby talk, researchers in the US say they have proved in principle that it is possible to screen for autism spectrum disorders in young children; they also hope the new method will greatly [...]
Under an agreement announced by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing will be provided equal access to a nursing and rehabilitation facility in New York State and will be provided interpretation services when necessary for effective communication…
Researchers have identified a gene mutation that causes a rare form of hearing loss known as auditory neuropathy, according to U-M Medical School scientists. In the study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, U-M’s Marci Lesperance, M.D., and Margit Burmeister, Ph.D…
It’s safe to say that cilia, the hairlike appendages jutting out from the smooth surfaces of most mammalian cells, have long been misunderstood - underestimated, even. Not to be confused with their whiplike cousins flagella, which propel sperm, one type of cilia has been known to serve as microscopic conveyor belts. (Picture cilia reaching up [...]
Research funded by hearing loss charity RNID has discovered a drug which repairs hearing after damage caused by loud noise. Researchers at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, showed that exposure to loud noise led to hearing loss which was permanent if left untreated. If treated with a compound called ‘ADAC’ after noise [...]
More electrodes and a thinner, more flexible wire inserted further into the inner ear could improve conventional cochlear implants, a team of Medical College of Georgia and Georgia Institute of Technology researchers say. Candidates for cochlear implants - an estimated million in the United States alone - include children and adults with profound deafness in [...]
Researchers from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, have discovered that a potent new drug restores hearing after noise-induced hearing loss in rats. The landmark discovery found that injection of an agent called ‘ADAC’, activates adenosine receptors in cochlear tissues, resulting in recovery of hearing function…