Deafness News and Research

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MPFI researcher awarded NIH grant to study mechanisms involved in early stages of hearing

Samuel Young, Jr., PhD at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience has been awarded a $2.4 million, five-year grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders to investigate how synaptic vesicle activity modulates the transfer of auditory information and ultimately how this impacts our ability to discern sounds.

4 Mar 2015

Brain scientists map changes in communication between nerve cells in rats

Lights, sound, action: we are constantly learning how to incorporate outside sensations into our reactions in specific situations. In a new study, brain scientists have mapped changes in communication between nerve cells as rats learned to make specific decisions in response to particular sounds. The team then used this map to accurately predict the rats' reactions. These results add to our understanding of how the brain processes sensations and forms memories to inform behavior.

3 Mar 2015

Existing drug could help treat MS, other neurological diseases

Damage to myelin, the fatty insulator that enables communication between nerve cells, characterizes multiple sclerosis (MS) and other devastating neurological diseases.

3 Mar 2015

Researchers reveal new understanding of pathobiology behind vestibular schwannoma

Researchers from the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories of Massachusetts Eye and Ear and the Harvard Medical School/ Massachusetts Institute of Technology Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology have revealed new understanding of the pathobiology behind a head and neck tumor that may someday lead to new methods of targeted drug therapy.

21 Feb 2015

Researchers assemble comprehensive map of human epigenome

Virtually every cell in the body carries an identical genome. But how is it possible that each of the body's 200 different types of specialized cells - in the heart, brain, bone, skin and elsewhere - develops from the same DNA instruction book?

19 Feb 2015

Salicylates drugs reduce proliferation, viability of cultured vestibular schwannoma cells

Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear and the Harvard Medical School/ Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology have demonstrated that salicylates, a class of non-steroidal inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), reduced the proliferation and viability of cultured vestibular schwannoma cells that cause a sometimes lethal intracranial tumor that typically causes hearing loss and tinnitus.

9 Feb 2015

Study links lysosomal dysfunction with neonatal intestinal disorders

Neonatal intestinal disorders that prevent infants from getting the nutrients they need may be caused by defects in the lysosomal system that occur before weaning, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.

28 Jan 2015

Monell Center receives NIH grant to develop clinical tool that can predict anosmia

Monell Center scientist Kai Zhao, PhD, is principal investigator on a $1.5M 4-year grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, part of the National Institutes of Health, to further develop clinical methodology that can predict the path of air flow through a person's nasal passages.

23 Jan 2015

Personalized approaches to treating intellectual disability

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have produced an approach that protects animal models against a type of genetic disruption that causes intellectual disability, including serious memory impairments and altered anxiety levels.

22 Jan 2015

Multiple factors influence survival of extremely premature infants

Multiple factors influence how well a severely premature infant (23 weeks gestation) will do after birth and over the long-term, according to researchers at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. These findings were published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Perinatology.

10 Dec 2014

TSRI scientists find simple method to convert human skin cells into sensory neurons

A team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has found a simple method to convert human skin cells into the specialized neurons that detect pain, itch, touch and other bodily sensations. These neurons are also affected by spinal cord injury and involved in Friedreich's ataxia, a devastating and currently incurable neurodegenerative disease that largely strikes children.

25 Nov 2014

TSRI study shows how mutations in Tmie gene can cause deafness from birth

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered how one gene is essential to hearing, uncovering a cause of deafness and suggesting new avenues for therapies.

21 Nov 2014

Massachusetts Eye and Ear offers femtosecond laser technology to Boston-area patients

Patients choosing cataract surgery at Massachusetts Eye and Ear may now elect to have laser-assisted cataract surgery with the femtosecond LensSx® Laser. The hospital is one of the few in New England to offer the advanced technology, which enables surgeons to more precisely perform cataract surgery aided by a computer-controlled laser.

14 Nov 2014

Researchers explore new ways to treat, prevent Streptococcus pneumoniae

Scientists from Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology have used the power of new genomic technology to discover that microbes that commonly infect the eye have special, previously unknown properties. These properties are predicted to allow the bacterium -- Streptococcus pneumoniae -- to specifically stick to the surface of the eye, grow, and cause damage and inflammation.

13 Nov 2014

Scientists develop new system to treat a host of genetic conditions

As potential next-generation therapeutics and research tools, few life sciences technologies hold more promise than genome-editing proteins – molecules that can be programmed to alter specific genes in order to treat or even cure genetic diseases.

31 Oct 2014

DSN supports research into possible links between deafness and dementia

A Cheshire charity is set to generate national impact by backing research into possible links between deafness and dementia.

30 Oct 2014

Finding could help improve treatment of hearing loss caused by noise, normal aging

Scientists have restored the hearing of mice partly deafened by noise, using advanced tools to boost the production of a key protein in their ears.

21 Oct 2014

Researchers awarded grant to develop non-invasive device to detect Human Cytomegalovirus

Researchers from Cardiff and Swansea Universities have been awarded a grant of more than £323k to develop a new, non-invasive, low-cost, and easy to use point of care device to diagnose Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV).

15 Oct 2014

HIV-infected users of stimulants derive benefits from antiretroviral therapy

New clinical research from UC San Francisco shows that 341 HIV-infected men who reported using stimulants such as methamphetamine or cocaine derived life-saving benefits from being on antiretroviral therapy that were comparable to those of HIV-infected men who do not use stimulants.

13 Oct 2014

Absence of thyroid hormone during development can cause congenital deafness

Fatigue, weight gain, chills, hair loss, anxiety, excessive perspiration - these symptoms are a few of the signs that the thyroid gland, which regulates the body's heart rate and plays a crucial role in its metabolism, has gone haywire.

23 Sep 2014