Cochlear implantation (CI) has become an increasingly common audiological solution for children with the most significant degree of unilateral hearing loss—that is, single-sided deafness (SSD)—however, highly variable outcomes are being observed with alarming rates of device nonuse.
Serotonin’s Dual Action in the Auditory Midbrain
Serotonin seems to quiet down excitatory neurons while boosting inhibitory ones. This differential modulation may help us to understand the role of serotonin in auditory disorders such as tinnitus and age-related hearing loss.
Brain Structure Changes Connected to Hearing Difficulty in Older Adults
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.
Meet the 2026 Emerging Research Grants Scientists
What Is the Cingulo-Opercular Network?
Effortful listening is mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting. Learn how it affects the brain—and what to do about it.
How Blast Injuries Disrupt Brain Cell Stress Responses
The findings suggest that blast injuries cause excessive activation of PARP1, which disrupts the brain’s natural ability to manage stress and inflammation. This reduces the activity of sirtuins, which help regulate cell repair and stress responses.
Beyond Words: The Impact of Cognitive Load on Children’s Sentence Comprehension
These findings support the idea that comprehension challenges can stem from cognitive limitations besides language structure. For educators and clinicians, this suggests that sentence comprehension measures can provide insights into children’s cognitive strengths and areas that need support.
Meet the 2025 Emerging Research Grants Scientists
Lower Frequencies Boost Ability of Older Adults to Separate Sounds
These findings mean lower-frequency sounds may help older adults better understand complex sound environments. This may be useful for designing better hearing aids or other devices to help older people hear more clearly.
Changes in the Brain with Age and Hearing Loss
A better understanding of how our brains process patterns with aging and hearing loss, and when neural responses are exaggerated versus diminished, can aid in developing treatments and devices to improve age- and hearing loss-related hearing difficulties.