News

Scientists Uncover Biological Reasoning Behind Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

If you enjoy live music, you’ve almost certainly experienced noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) — that nagging, muffled perception of sound or ringing in your ears at the end of the night. Sometimes it’s gone by the next morning, sometimes it lingers longer. The condition can be transitory at first, but over time it can lead […]

First Regenerative Hearing Drug Trial Successfully Completed

Researchers at UCL and UCLH have successfully completed the first trial of a therapy designed to restore hearing loss. The REGAIN trial, the results of which were published in Nature Communications, was the first study of a treatment aimed at restoring lost hearing, focusing on a drug with the technical name gamma-secretase inhibitor LY3056480. The researchers found that […]

Video gamers at Risk for Developing Irreversible Hearing Loss and Tinnitus

Video gamers worldwide may be risking irreversible hearing loss and/or tinnitus—persistent ringing/buzzing in the ears—finds a systematic review of the available evidence, published in the open access journal BMJ Public Health. What evidence there is suggests that the sound levels reported in studies of more than 50,000 people often near, or exceed, permissible safe limits, conclude the researchers. […]

New Gene Therapy Approach Restored Hearing in Five Deaf Children

A novel gene therapy approach has given five children who were born deaf the ability to hear. The method, which overcomes a roadblock presented by large genes, may be useful in other treatments, according to researchers. The work, conducted in Fudan, China, treated six children aged 1 to 7 who had a mutation of the OTOF gene, […]

Study Shows Where You Live May Affect Your Hearing Health

The first study to map the prevalence of bilateral hearing loss in the United States by state and county finds that rates of hearing loss are higher among men, non-Hispanic whites, and residents of rural areas. Bilateral hearing loss is hearing loss in both ears. West Virginia, Alaska, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Arizona had the highest […]

New App May Be Helpful in Providing Tinnitus Relief

An international research team has shown that the debilitating impact of tinnitus can be effectively reduced in just weeks by a training course and sound therapy delivered via a smartphone app. The team from Australian, New Zealand, French and Belgian universities reports these findings in Frontiers in Audiology and Otology. It offers some hope for millions affected […]

New App May Be Helpful in Providing Tinnitus Relief

An international research team has shown that the debilitating impact of tinnitus can be effectively reduced in just weeks by a training course and sound therapy delivered via a smartphone app. The team from Australian, New Zealand, French and Belgian universities reports these findings in Frontiers in Audiology and Otology. It offers some hope for millions affected […]

Hearing Aid Usage May Reduce Early Mortality Rate in Adults With Hearing Loss

In a recent study published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, researchers determine the relationship between the use of hearing aids and mortality among adult United States residents with hearing impairment participating in the 1999-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). A total of 9,885 NHANES respondents who completed hearing aid usage and audiometry questionnaires were […]

Research Team Discovers New Way to Deliver Drugs Into Inner Ear

An international team of researchers has developed a new method to deliver drugs into the inner ear.  The discovery was possible by harnessing the natural flow of fluids in the brain and employing a little understood backdoor into the cochlea. When combined to deliver a gene therapy that repairs inner ear hair cells, the researchers […]