Deafness News and Research

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Experts provide neural evidence for the glimpsing model of speech perception

Researchers led by Dr. Nima Mesgarani at Columbia University, US, report that the brain treats speech in a crowded room differently depending on how easy it is to hear, and whether we are focusing on it. Publishing June 6th in the open access journal PLOS Biology, the study uses a combination of neural recordings and computer modeling to show that when we follow speech that is being drowned out by louder voices, phonetic information is encoded differently than in the opposite situation. The findings could help improve hearing aids that work by isolating attended speech.

7 Jun 2023

Virally mediated gene therapy could potentially treat genetic hearing loss

By 2050, one in 10 individuals are expected to live with some form of hearing loss. Of the hundreds of millions of cases of hearing loss affecting individuals worldwide, genetic hearing loss is often the most difficult to treat.

26 May 2023

Researchers identify brain signatures for chronic pain in a small group of individuals

For the first time, researchers have recorded pain-related data from inside the brain of individuals with chronic pain disorders caused by stroke or amputation (phantom limb pain).

22 May 2023

Researchers take key step toward developing a gene therapy for Usher syndrome type 1F

Usher Syndrome type 1F is a rare but severe genetic disease that causes deafness, lack of balance, and progressive blindness.

26 Apr 2023

UniSA nursing lecturer warns about sudden deafness after COVID-19 infection

A University of South Australia nursing lecturer has used her own COVID-19 experience to inform research into a little-known side effect of the virus – sudden deafness.

18 Apr 2023

COVID-19 linked to sudden hearing loss in woman: A case report

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16 Apr 2023

Molecular basis for alkaline taste discovered

The sense of taste is among the first to come into contact with food before we ingest it, but whether animals can taste basic or alkaline food and how they do it remained unclear until now.

20 Mar 2023

Computational analysis of large genetic datasets reveals rare disease etiologies

Using a new computational approach they developed to analyze large genetic datasets from rare disease cohorts, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and colleagues have discovered previously unknown genetic causes of three rare conditions: primary lymphedema (characterized by tissue swelling), thoracic aortic aneurysm disease, and congenital deafness.

17 Mar 2023

OHSU researchers confirm first-ever nonhuman primate model of Usher syndrome

Those with Usher Syndrome -- the leading hereditary cause for simultaneous deafness and blindness, for which there is no treatment -- may have a new reason for hope now that researchers have confirmed the first-ever nonhuman primate model of their disease.

13 Feb 2023

Study: FER1L5 protein essential for sperm to undergo acrosome reaction and male fertility

Fertilization is the union of two cells: an egg and a sperm. Before the egg and the sperm fuse, an event known as the "acrosome reaction" needs to occur in the sperm.

25 Jan 2023

Brain-computer interfaces' safety is similar to other implanted neurologic devices, study shows

For people with paralysis caused by neurologic injury or disease-;such as ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease), stroke, or spinal cord injury-;brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have the potential to restore communication, mobility, and independence by transmitting information directly from the brain to a computer or other assistive technology.

16 Jan 2023

Study sheds light on how an employee's hearing loss can impact their work experience

Hearing loss cases are climbing globally -; 1 in 5 adults are affected -; along with a growing number of older workers who are more likely to experience hearing loss.

15 Jan 2023

Wayne State researcher wins $1.7 million NIH award to understand and tackle cisplatin-induced ototoxicity

A Wayne State University researcher has received a $1.7 million, five-year award from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health for the study, "Targeting nitrative stress for treatment of cisplatin ototoxicity."

5 Jan 2023

Checkerboard-like arrangement of inner ear cells vital for hearing, research reveals

A Japanese research group has become the first to reveal that the checkerboard-like arrangement of cells in the inner ear's organ of Corti is vital for hearing.

27 Dec 2022

Community health worker program delivers low-cost device to improve hearing in older adults

A first-in-kind program that trains trusted older adult community health workers to fit and deliver low-cost hearing technology to peers with hearing loss significantly improved communication function among participants, according to the results of a randomized clinical trial led by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers.

20 Dec 2022

Study to determine if a DNA-based blood test can help detect cancer predisposition in NF1 patients

The Children’s Tumor Foundation (CTF) has announced a groundbreaking 3-year study, which it will fund for nearly $2 million, to determine if a DNA-based blood test can offer better understanding and ultimately earlier diagnosis of cancer predisposition in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) patients.

16 Dec 2022

Study looks at the possibility of promoting hair cell regeneration using cell reprograming

About 430 million people around the world experience disabling hearing loss. In the United States, approximately 37.5 million adults report some trouble hearing. Hearing loss can happen when any part of the ear or the nerves that carry information on sounds to the brain do not work in the usual way.

8 Dec 2022