This work furthers the development of an effective drug delivery platform for the inner ear that uses the cochlear bone as a depot for prolonged neurotrophic stimulation of spiral ganglion neurons. Our method may bypass the pitfalls of systemic administration—increased risk of side effects and insufficient levels of drug delivery—and the dangers related to opening the cochlea.
Cochlear Organoids Reveal HIC1’s Role in Hair Cell Differentiation
Emerging Research Grants scientist Dunia Abdul-Aziz, M.D., of Harvard Medical School and Mass Eye and Ear coauthored a study that reveals how the gene Atoh1 in the cochlea can be repressed by the protein HIC1, inhibiting hair cell differentiation. It also demonstrates the power of combining the organoid model with the genetic toolkit to study key regulators of hair cell differentiation, which may help advance the understanding of hair cell development and regeneration.
Verifying a Novel Method for Assessing Speech Motor Skills in Children With Cochlear Implants
By combining principles and tools from engineering and computer science with cognitive and linguistic science, we envision developing robotic devices to deliver speechlike patterns of somatosensory input to the vocal tracts of children who use cochlear implants as they learn to listen to speech sounds through their implant processor.
‘I Have to Change My Battery, Again?’
Taking charge of hearing aid batteries with these helpful strategies—inspired by in-depth interviews with hearing aid users—means never being left without power.
Postural and Head Control Given Different Environmental Contexts
Fall risk in people with hearing loss has been shown in older adults, and our pilot data suggest balance impairments in people with single-sided hearing are more likely to arise in older participants with moderate dizziness.
Emerging Research Grants Applications Open Today
Applications for the 2022–2023 Emerging Research Grants (ERG) cycle opens today, Monday, October 18, 2021.
Understanding Hearing Loss From Noise Damage Through Gene Expression Changes
Findings suggest several FDA-approved drugs, such as a common diabetes medication and anesthetics, could protect from noise-induced hearing loss.
Meet the HRP Working Groups
The Hearing Restoration Project consortium model has, since its start, centered on team science, collaboration, and the faster exchange of data. To further energize this approach and facilitate even closer interaction, including among HRP researchers’ postdoctoral researchers and other lab members, the HRP decided at its annual meeting to reorganize its research into three working groups.
2022 Emerging Research Grants Announced
We have reported since spring 2020 on the astounding resilience of HHF-funded scientists as they continued their work remotely and in hybrid setups. Just as they continued to conduct scientific work during the past year and a half of lab closures and COVID-19 restrictions, so too were Emerging Research Grants applicants busy collecting preliminary data and drafting research proposals.
Autism-Related Language Difficulties Tied to Involuntary Attention Capture
We examined data from individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) peers while they listened to both meaningful and meaningless sentences. ASD individuals show significantly stronger cortical responses to meaningless compared with meaningful speech in the same canonical language regions where TD individuals exhibit stronger responses to meaningful speech.