Hearing Loss

Hearing loss, impairment or deafness may be of two major types: one that develops some time in life, one that a baby is born with – or congenital deafness. Most commonly, hearing loss is seen with age or is caused by exposure to loud noises.

What is hearing loss?

More than 10 million people in the United Kingdom have some form of hearing loss. Of these about 688,000 are severely or profoundly deaf.

Causes of Hearing Loss

Dealing with Hearing Loss

Newborn Hearing Screening

What is Safe Listening?

Conductive Hearing Loss

Hearing Loss Research

Recent Developments in Hearing Technology

Symptoms and Diagnosis of Hearing Loss

Treatment of hearing loss

Types of Hearing Loss

Preventing Noise-induced Hearing Loss

See more featured articles »

Age-Related Hearing Loss (ARHL) / Presbycusis

Hearing Loss and Genetics

Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL)

Latest Hearing Loss News and Research

International experts publish guidelines on the administration of gene therapy for hereditary hearing loss

Up to 60% of congenital and early-onset hearing loss is caused by genetic mutations in an inherited gene, and gene therapy has recently emerged as a potential treatment option.

23 Oct 2025

When a hearing aid isn’t enough

Kitty Grutzmacher had contended with poor hearing for a decade, but the problem had worsened over the past year. Even with her hearing aids, "there was little or no sound," she said.

23 Oct 2025

Discovery of CPD gene mutations sheds light on rare congenital hearing loss

Mutations in a gene known as CPD play a crucial role in a rare form of congenital hearing loss, an international team of researchers has discovered.

14 Oct 2025

Identifying Alport syndrome in children through universal age-3 urine screening

The most common first diagnosis of Alport syndrome in Japan is during the universal age-3 urine screening.

7 Oct 2025

Inside the high-stakes battle over vaccine injury compensation, autism, and public trust

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has floated a seismic idea: adding autism to the list of conditions covered by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.

6 Oct 2025

Research reveals shocking disparity in hearing aid access

Countries with the highest reported levels of hearing loss also have the lowest reported use of hearing aids, finds international research published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health.

3 Oct 2025

Researchers link high-volume listening habits to future hearing damage in young people

Music is more of a personal experience for young people and plays a significant role in their well-being and emotional regulation. However, using headphones almost around the clock risks leading to hearing damage. Research at Orebro University lends support to initiatives to raise awareness about high sound levels and the problems this may cause for society in the future.

3 Oct 2025

Researchers uncover how chromosome crossovers protect fertility

When a woman becomes pregnant, the outcome of that pregnancy depends on many things - including a crucial event that happened while she was still growing inside her own mother's womb.

24 Sep 2025

Top ten research priorities for childhood deafness identified in new UK project

Deaf children and people with experience of childhood deafness from across the UK have come together to highlight what matters most to children affected by deafness and hearing loss, as part of a project funded by the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS).

19 Sep 2025

Discovering the sweet spot for listening in reverberant spaces

Hearing researchers at Macquarie University have shown that listeners rapidly learn and adapt to the characteristics of acoustic spaces to improve their understanding of speech and have found evidence for the brain mechanisms involved in 'listening to the room'.

4 Sep 2025

Transcription factors SP5 and SP8 regulate primary cilia formation in embryos

Some might say it looks like a finger. Others might see a worm. Scientists in the field often liken it to an antenna.

29 Aug 2025

Insights into clinical features and genetic variants of Cornelia de Lange syndrome in China

Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) is a rare genetic disorder with symptoms, including facial anomalies (such as fused eyebrows, short nose, upturned nose tip, and downturned mouth corners), growth retardation, small head (microcephaly), developmental delays, cognitive impairments, excess hair growth, and limb anomalies.

29 Aug 2025

Try this when your doctor says ‘yes’ to a preventive test but insurance says ‘no’

Trying to figure out why her claim was denied took Anna Deutscher a lot of time and work.

21 Aug 2025

Gene editing restores hearing and balance in adult mice with DFNA41 deafness

Zheng-Yi Chen, DPhil, associate scientist at the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories, and Ines and Fredrick Yeatts Chair in Otolaryngology, at Mass Eye and Ear, is the senior and co-corresponding author of a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, "Single Dose Genome Editing Therapy Rescues Auditory and Vestibular Functions in Adult Mice with DFNA41 Deafness."

14 Aug 2025

Hearing loss impacts employment and income among young adults

Hearing loss is the most common form of sensory disability. Approximately 1.6 billion people around the world currently live with from some degree of hearing loss, and the WHO has forecast that this number will rise to 2.5 billion by 2050.

1 Aug 2025

Updated guideline aims to identify quality improvement opportunities in managing adult sinusitis

The American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) published the Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG): Adult Sinusitis Update today in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.

31 Jul 2025

New imaging tool measures inner ear fluid to assess hearing loss

Optical coherence tomography (OCT), a tool routinely used to diagnose and plan treatment for eye diseases, has now been modified to collect images of the inner ear.

23 Jul 2025

Breakthrough gene therapy reverses genetic deafness across age groups

Using gene therapy to treat hereditary deafness is safe and effective in both children and adults, according to new findings from a multicenter clinical trial.

22 Jul 2025

New genetic discovery could change how Friedreich's ataxia is diagnosed

A University of Oklahoma researcher is the first to discover that the sequence of the genetic defect in the neuromuscular disease Friedreich's ataxia isn't always as uniform as previously thought, a breakthrough finding that could spark changes in how the condition is diagnosed and studied.

21 Jul 2025

Heart healthy habits boost overall body health and longevity

People who had more heart-healthy habits and factors, as assessed by the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 metrics for ideal cardiovascular health, had more positive benefits for whole body health, according to a review of research published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

16 Jul 2025