A team from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, and the universities of Sheffield, Uppsala (Sweden), Nottingham, and Western University in Canada, has proven and confirmed a secure surgical access to the inner ear cochlea, which will enable the application of a range of regenerative therapies to restore hearing.
Researchers at Uppsala University have created the “first 3D map of the hearing nerve showing where the various sound frequencies are captured,” according to an article on the university's website. Using what is known as synchrotron X-ray imaging, they were able to trace the fine nerve threads and the vibrating auditory organ, the cochlea, and find out exactly how the frequencies of incoming sound are distributed.
The research team in the Music, Acoustics, Perception, and Learning (MAPLE) lab has repeatedly shown crucial differences in the processing of natural versus artificial sounds, raising questions about the degree to which tone beeps can actually properly test the auditory system.
A new Northwestern University study provides the first evidence that infants’ increasingly precise perceptual tuning to the sounds of their native language sets constraints on the range of human languages they will link to cognition.
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A team led by Professor Karen B. Avraham, vice dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, has now created the first map of “methylation”–one of the body’s main epigenetic signals–that reflects the functioning of the inner ear in its entirety.
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Douglas Beck, AuD, interviews Dr Searchfield who is one of the world’s leading experts on the cognitive processes involved in tinnitus perception and innovative technology for the management of hearing loss and tinnitus. Topics include the possible origins of tinnitus, tools for helping patients, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), internet-based CBT, and more.
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It has been estimated that 1 in 100 people around the world have a congenital inner ear condition known as semicircular canal dehiscence, a thinning of the bone enclosing the inner ear that can lead to vertigo in response to certain sounds, changes in atmospheric pressure, or coughing.
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Currently, patients with symptomatic or growing vestibular schwannomas can undergo surgical resection (through craniotomy) or radiation therapy; however, both of these procedures come with significant risks.
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A Japanese research group has successfully grafted human iPS cell-derived inner ear cells that express human-derived proteins into the inner ears of embryonic mice.
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A new Tel Aviv University study solves a critical piece of the puzzle of human deafness by identifying the first group of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the auditory system.
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The researchers were able to postpone the onset of hearing loss and associated hair cell degeneration by about a month, providing enough time to inject normal copies of the Clarin-1 gene into the ear before the onset of hearing loss to see if the treatment was effective.
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Lead author Sandra Goutte and her colleagues showed this through multiple lines of inquiry including the failure of the frogs to respond behaviorally to call playback and the lack of auditory brainstem response to the call frequencies.
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Can a fish with a malformed jaw tell us something about hearing loss in mice and humans? The answer is yes, according to a new publication in ‘Scientific Reports.’
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Researchers have discovered that a protein implicated in human longevity may also play a role in restoring hearing after noise exposure, the University of Rochester Medical Center announced. The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, could one day provide researchers with new tools to prevent hearing loss.
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The degree to which you are disturbed by the noises of everyday life may be related to how your brain processes variations in the sound stream or sound environment, according to new research findings. Further, genetics may play a role in the degree of your sensitivity.
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