Hearing Health Blog Archive
Social platforms have become spaces to compare symptoms, crowdsource explanations, and seek community. For tinnitus, that openness has helped many people feel less alone. Unfortunately, it has also created space for confusion, misinformation, and discouraging myths that can delay effective care.
Often these surprising sources of loud sounds come about from a misguided belief that loud means fun—the louder it is, the more festive. The good news? Because the decibel scale is logarithmic, turning it down even a little can help save our hearing a lot.
When thinking about exposure to loud sounds, it is important to take a life-course perspective. That is, the health behaviors developed in childhood and adolescence can shape habits into adulthood.
I know the only way I could hear it is if we all stopped playing and moved up to the net every time someone has something to say.
The team’s analysis uncovered a surprising diversity of supporting cells, the “non-sensory cellular guardians” that surround and protect the sensory hair cells and may facilitate their regeneration
It seems paradoxical that a hearing condition intended to work against me could give me the power to truly understand music, but this battle has taught me more about positivity and hope than any motivational speech could.
Before the HRP, there was no mechanism for data sharing and collaboration, no way to assess gene expression rigorously or to identify relevant patterns, and no examples of new hair cells generated in a post-hearing mammalian cochlea.
Despite decades of research showing the profound impact of hearing health on overall quality of life, most people won't consider their auditory system until problems become undeniable.
The squirrels’ improved ability to hear low frequency sounds is likely a sensory adaptation to life at high elevations, where weather and thin air can reduce how well sound travels. The study highlights how hearing and behavior can evolve together to help animals survive in challenging acoustic environments.
When wearing earplugs earns a reprimand from a master teacher, two high school classical musicians decide it’s time to change the conversation about the risk of hearing loss among their peers.
A practical reference, not a lecture, from a music industry professional on how to protect our first instrument: our hearing.
The next step in this field is the use of powerful modern sequencing technology in order to map gene activity and gene regulation during hair cell regeneration in fish and birds as well as in mammalian balance organs.
We found that the aging brain tries to amplify degraded input from the auditory nerve and that amplified responses are associated with poorer brain structure and trouble with speech understanding.
On the eve of this biggest day for charitable giving, you’ve more than likely already heard from many nonprofit organizations. Here’s what makes Hearing Health Foundation stand out.
With Thanksgiving here, we’re feeling especially grateful. Thank you, truly, for being part of our Hearing Health Foundation community, some of whom I was fortunate enough to meet over the summer and fall.
During holiday family gatherings, the signs of hearing loss can become especially apparent.
New survey results present a close look at why people do—and don’t—use hearing aids.
While working in the clinic I realized how much I loved creating resources for patients—brochures, handouts, visual guides—mostly because I couldn’t find what I wanted online.
Digital hearing tools can act as allies to reduce isolation. Technology has adapted to today’s needs and can help people struggling with hearing loss regain and retain their social connections.
On this Veterans Day and every day, Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) thanks our U.S. service members and veterans for their sacrifices. This group is disproportionately at risk for hearing damage, but earlier this year changes to how tinnitus is rated as a compensable disability were proposed.
Our partner Hyperacusis Research recently hosted a webinar that highlighted both the human impact of hyperacusis—pain triggered by everyday sounds—and the scientific progress being made to understand and treat it.
There was a lot of confusion in the mid-’80s between hearing and understanding. I was 14 years old so hearing loss was the furthest thing from my mind and nothing my parents thought of either. I could hear but I had trouble understanding what I heard.
An audiologist shares the science behind Halloween’s eeriest noises.
What moved me most was not just the science. It was the joy. I will never forget an older man who heard his grandson’s voice clearly for the first time in years.
My area of study is auditory neuroscience, and I’m especially passionate about how neuroscience can reveal the underlying mechanisms behind why hearing outcomes vary so much from person to person.
Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is currently accepting applications for 2026–2027 awards through our Emerging Research Grants program.
Many single-sided deafness patients perform perfectly on standard speech-in-quiet tests due to their healthy ear, a “ceiling effect” that masks the real-world challenges they face. We propose using more sensitive metrics that assess sound quality and music perception.
As the first known Black author to publish a 10-book children’s series centered on deaf, hard of hearing, and disabled heroes, I’ve created what I once longed for: stories where children see themselves as powerful.