Tag: northwestern university

All

Latest

Researchers Find Master Gene Programming Hair Cells

Hearing loss due to aging, noise, and certain cancer therapy drugs and antibiotics has been irreversible because scientists have not been able to reprogram existing cells to develop into the outer and inner ear sensory cells — essential for hearing — once they die. But Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a single master gene that programs ear hair cells into either outer or inner ones, overcoming a major hurdle that had prevented the development of these cells to restore hearing, according to new research published in “Nature.”

CEDRA: A Consumer Questionnaire to Detect Disease Risk Before Hearing Aid Purchase

To maintain consumer safety while dispensing hearing aids and other amplification devices when licensed providers are not involved, a multidisciplinary research team developed the Consumer Ear Disease Risk Assessment (CEDRA) questionnaire, which is designed to identify the risk of diseases with ear and hearing symptoms. Noted researcher Donald Nielsen, PhD, explains its development and how the self-administered test can be used online for free.

Read More

Auditory Deprivation, Brain Changes Secondary to Hearing Loss, and More: An Interview with Anu Sharma, PhD

For this installment of Inside Clinical Research, Dr Doug Beck discusses with researcher Anu Sharma, PhD, her work in cross modal plasticity of the brain and cortical resource allocation as related to hearing loss. Dr Sharma also discusses other aspects of auditory deprivation on the human brain.

Read More

How Certain Sounds Shape the Brain

Northwestern University reported that Nina Kraus, PhD, a professor of neurobiology, physiology and otolaryngology, shed light on one of the brain’s most complex tasks–making sense of sound–during the Falling Walls Conference held November 8-9, 2015 in Berlin, Germany. Dr Kraus explained how she has devised a new way to measure what happens in the brain when it is processing sounds such as speech and music.

Read More
Loading