Category: Sensorineural

Akouos’ AK-OTOF Receives Orphan Drug Designation

Akouos, Inc announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP) issued a positive opinion on the company’s application for orphan drug designation for AK-OTOF, a gene therapy intended for the treatment of otoferlin gene-mediated hearing loss. The positive opinion was subsequently adopted by the European Commission.

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Research Shows Hair Cell Damage May Be Main Cause of Age-related Hearing Loss

Researchers examined 120 inner ears collected at autopsy. They used multivariable statistical regression to compare data on the survival of hair cells, nerve fibers, and the stria vascularis with the patients’ audiograms to uncover the main predictor of the hearing loss in this aging population. They found that the degree and location of hair cell death predicted the severity and pattern of the hearing loss, while stria vascularis damage did not.

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What Is “Normal Hearing” for Older Adults and Can “Normal-hearing Older Adults” Benefit from Hearing Care Intervention?

Researcher and author Larry Humes, PhD, points out that large-scale studies have identified self-reported hearing difficulties as one of the strongest predictors of hearing aid uptake and use. He says this further reinforces the need for the older consumer and the hearing care professional to quantify the severity of hearing difficulties above and beyond those captured by the pure-tone audiogram.

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The Musicians’ Clinics of Canada Launches New Website

MusiciansClinics.com is a resource for those seeking information on a variety of topics related to hearing and hearing loss in musicians. Developed by audiologist-musician Marshall Chasin, AuD, the website offers a large range of resources for guitarists, bass players, violinists, woodwind players, school band teachers, and more.

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