Deafness News and Research

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Researchers develop a more precise version of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system

A gene defect in humans causes progressive hearing loss in humans, resulting in deafness by their mid-20s. The same genetic mutation causes deafness in the Beethoven-mouse model.

18 Jul 2019

UMD researchers connect a protein to antibody immunity for the first time

Human cytomegalovirus may not be a household name as far as viruses go, but according to Xiaoping Zhu, professor and chair in Veterinary Medicine at UMD, half of the population walking around campus is likely to be a carrier.

10 Jul 2019

Researcher finds possible strategy for killing cancer cells in children

In Belgium, there are 70,000 new adult cases of cancer every year, compared to 350 in children. Owing to lack of interest from pharmaceutical groups, treatments for pediatric cancers are developing much less rapidly than those for adults.

4 Jul 2019

Study explores impact of preterm birth on language outcomes in preschoolers

About 1 in 10 babies in the United States is born premature. These children are at an increased risk for adverse outcomes across a broad spectrum of neurodevelopmental domains, including language skills.

3 Jul 2019

Study reveals what happens within the brain when we name what we see

You see an object, you think of its name and then you say it. This apparently simple activity engages a set of brain regions that must interact with each other to produce the behavior quickly and accurately.

25 Jun 2019

Children's Tumor Foundation establishes significant research initiative to combat NF2

On the occasion of World NF2 Awareness Day, the Children's Tumor Foundation has announced the establishment of a significant research initiative dedicated to finding effective treatments for NF2, along with a substantial investment of $2.3 million in this bold new effort.

23 May 2019

Cell's cytoskeleton aids in energy transfer and information processing within neurons, study finds

Dysfunctions and malformations in the scaffold of a cell are thought to contribute to heart muscle weakness, neurodegenerative disease and even deafness.

8 May 2019

Children with lower language skills find it difficult to understand what strangers are saying

New research by New York University Steinhardt Associate Professor Susannah Levi finds that children with poorer language skills are at a disadvantage when given tasks or being spoken to by strangers because they cannot, as easily as their peers, understand speech from people they do not know.

27 Apr 2019

Microglia play vital role in regulating neuroinflammation, research shows

A research team at Massachusetts Eye and Ear has shown that microglia, the primary immune cells of the central nervous system--including the retina of the eye--serve as "gatekeepers," or biosensors and facilitators, of neuroinflammation in a preclinical model of autoimmune uveitis.

23 Apr 2019

Brain areas linked to memory and emotion aid odor navigation in humans

Species like dogs and rodents use their sense of smell to navigate toward desirable items and places and away from those they should avoid.

22 Apr 2019

Researchers map auditory sensory system of the mouse brain

University of Oregon neuroscientists report that two areas of the mouse brain combine representations of what is heard and anticipated, guiding behavior that leads mice to the best reward.

19 Apr 2019

Large-scale screen of mouse mutants reveals 38 new genes involved in hearing loss

A large-scale screen of mouse mutants has revealed multiple new genes involved in hearing loss, according to a study publishing April 11 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Karen Steel of King’s College London and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, and colleagues.

12 Apr 2019

Researchers study how the auditory system achieves accurate speech recognition

For humans to achieve accurate speech recognition and communicate with one another, the auditory system must recognize distinct categories of sounds - such as words - from a continuous incoming stream of sounds.

27 Mar 2019

Brain area that only processes spoken, not written words identified

Patients in a new Northwestern Medicine study were able to comprehend words that were written but not said aloud. They could write the names of things they saw but not verbalize them.

22 Mar 2019

New $9.7 million NIH grant project seeks to improve hearing restoration

The University of Minnesota announced today that it will lead a $9.7 million grant over the next five years from the National Institutes for Health BRAIN Initiative to develop a new implantable device and surgical procedure with the goal of restoring more natural hearing to people who are deaf or severely hard-of-hearing.

20 Mar 2019

UVA researchers discover potential contributor to age-related hearing loss

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered a new potential contributor to age-related hearing loss, a finding that could eventually help doctors identify people at risk.

12 Mar 2019

Least-active neurons play more important role in brain behavior than previously assumed

Brain cells recorded as among the least electrically active during a specific task may be the most important to doing it right.

26 Feb 2019

Gene therapy restores hearing in mice with congenital genetic deafness

In collaboration with the universities of Miami, Columbia and San Francisco, scientists from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, CNRS, Collège de France, Sorbonne University and the University of Clermont Auvergne have managed to restore hearing in an adult mouse model of DFNB9 deafness - a hearing disorder that represents one of the most frequent cases of congenital genetic deafness.

19 Feb 2019

Multinational initiative to study familial primary distal renal tubular acidosis

In addition to regulating the body's fluid balance, by excreting greater or smaller amounts of urine, the kidneys also maintain the proper balance of electrolytes (salts) and the pH (an acid-base equilibrium) within our body.

19 Feb 2019

Study finds genetic vulnerability to use of menthol cigarettes

A genetic variant found only in people of African descent significantly increases a smoker's preference for cigarettes containing menthol, a flavor additive.

15 Feb 2019