Speech News and Research

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Pioneering new technology helps ease dementia

In a remarkable enterprise psychologists at St Andrews University, computer experts at Dundee University, and researchers at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, have collaborated to produce a "memory jukebox".

16 Jun 2005

Adults can be retrained to learn second languages more easily

Our ability to hear and understand a second language becomes more and more difficult with age, but the adult brain can be retrained to pick up foreign sounds more easily again.

14 Jun 2005

Intensive therapy, even four years later, improves stroke victims speech

A new study suggests that when intensive therapy is used with people who suffered a stroke years earlier, their speaking ability seems to improve.

10 Jun 2005

Experimental drug therapy could open new window for treatment of deadly stroke

A new type of drug therapy that is currently being tested in Canada could significantly reduce the death rate caused by the deadliest form of stroke. According to the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, new developments in stroke research make it more important than ever that Canadians recognize and react to the warning signs of stroke.

9 Jun 2005

TV confuses kids on healthy eating

Despite - or perhaps because of - the barrage of information about food that they consume while watching television, kids are getting the wrong message about healthy eating.

8 Jun 2005

Neuroscientists redefine the dyslexic brain

The dyslexic brain may have a general problem forming perceptual categories, including the templates for printed letters and speech sounds, say University of Southern California (USC) neuroscientists.

5 Jun 2005

New evidence for cause of dyslexia

Addressing a persistent debate in the field of dyslexia research, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Southern California (USC) have disproved the popular theory that deficits in certain visual processes cause the spelling and reading woes commonly suffered by dyslexics.

29 May 2005

Bill Clinton urges U.S. drug companies to be more flexible on generic drugs

Bill Clinton, the former U.S. president, is urging the United States to be more flexible in allowing money pledged for AIDS prevention to be used for low-cost generic drugs, and he has criticized U.S. drug manufacturers for pressuring the government to restrict use of those funds.

26 May 2005

Mothers ability to mind read important in child's development

For a mother, being able to 'read' her baby's emotions or state of mind can be more important for the child's development than who she is and what she has, according to important new research sponsored by the ESRC.

26 May 2005

Sarcasm the lowest form of wit demands the highest functions of the brain

New research suggests that the highest functions of our brains handle the lowest form of wit.

23 May 2005

Scottish dentists not reassured by dental reforms

Deputy Health Minister Rhona Brankin says that despite rows over reforms of the profession the Scottish Executive will maintain good links with dentists.

23 May 2005

Cameras and MP3 players are fun, but the next wave of add-ons for cell phones and laptops may help users keep track of their health

A University of Florida engineer has built a working prototype for a small, portable system that can monitor a person’s breathing and heart rate automatically via wireless signal, with no need for cords or plugs. The goal is to make it easy for people to check their own vital signs, and then transmit them in real time to medical personnel through a cell phone or Internet connection, all with little more than a press of a button.

18 May 2005

Mathematical way to identify babies at risk for epilepsy

Confusion and speech problems are frequent signs of seizures, but babies offer few such clues as to what ails them.

17 May 2005

The Gates Foundation approach to the world's health problems has its critics

A recent article in The Lancet criticized the premise that a Grand Challenge to scientific and technological know-how is the best route to combating malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases that kills millions of people each year.

16 May 2005

Bill Gates calls on world leaders to seize opportunity to improve health

In a major address today to international health officials, Bill Gates said the world now has a "historic chance" to achieve dramatic improvements in health, and called on governments, the scientific community, and the private sector to more aggressively fight the diseases that affect hundreds of millions of the world's poorest people each year.

16 May 2005

Surgical technique provides the first permanent solution to treating vocal-cord spasms

The first large, long-term study of patients who had surgery to control vocal-cord spasms showed excellent results in the majority of cases, reports new UCLA research presented May 14 at the 126th Annual Meeting of the American Laryngological Association.

15 May 2005

Robotic surgery dramatically reduces physical trauma for head & neck cancer patients

For patients with cancer of the mouth and throat, surgery is a frequent course of treatment, often leading to speech and swallowing dysfunction and external scarring.

15 May 2005

Sydney team invents a 3D hearing aid

Over three million Australians suffer from hearing loss but fewer than 20% of them use hearing aids. Part of the problem is that technology just isn’t good enough for them. Researchers from Sydney are changing that.

28 Apr 2005

Clues about the causes of dementia in Huntington's disease

Scientists at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have uncovered a clue about the causes of dementia in Huntington's disease, one of the disease's symptoms, by showing that mice susceptible to Huntington's disease have problems with learning and memory before the diseases' typical movement problems appear.

27 Apr 2005

Important new finding about the brain and its stem cells

A family's bravery and generosity in the face of their son's death three years ago has enabled researchers to make an important new finding about the brain and its stem cells.

25 Apr 2005