Research Aims to Improve Fit and Increase Use of Hearing Aids in U.S.

By University of Maryland Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Although about 28.8 million Americans could benefit from wearing hearing aids, less than a third of that population actually uses them, according to the National Institutes of Health. While cost is a contributing factor, experts say many people with hearing loss choose not to wear hearing aids simply because they have difficulty adjusting to them. Researchers with the University of Maryland Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences (HESP) are hoping to improve those figures by developing better procedures for fitting people with hearing aids for the first time.

“Right now when someone is fitted with hearing aids, the focus is on increasing audibility of sounds reaching the ear,” says HESP Assistant Professor Samira Anderson, Au.D., Ph.D. “However, in order to actually understand what someone is saying, sound has to travel from the ear up to the brain. We’re interested in understanding how wearing a hearing aid affects that process.”

Dr. Anderson, University of Maryland Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences

In a study published recently in Ear & Hearing, Anderson and colleagues outfitted 37 older adults with mild to severe hearing loss with new, in-the-ear hearing aids donated by Widex USA. The researchers placed electrodes on the surface of the patients’ skin to measure electrical activity produced in response to sound in the auditory cortex and midbrain. They found that the brain’s processing of sounds improved while wearing hearing aids.

“There’s a growing body of research showing that hearing loss can lead to accelerated cognitive decline and isolation as people age,” Anderson says. “My hope is that we can develop enhanced testing procedures that will allow more people to benefit from hearing aids and enjoy a better quality of life.”

The UMD research team plans to continue evaluating the patients in their study during the first six months of hearing aid use. In future studies, researchers hope to investigate the effects of manipulating hearing aid parameters on neural processing. The study was funded by the UMD Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Hearing Health Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health (NIDCD Grant T32DC000046).

Samira Anderson, Au.D., Ph.D., is a 2014 Emerging Research Grants researcher generously funded by the General Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons International. We thank the Royal Arch Masons for their ongoing support of research in the area of central auditory processing disorder. Read more about Anderson and her research in “A Closer Look,” in the Winter 2014 issue of Hearing Health.

We need your help supporting innovative hearing and balance science through our Emerging Research Grants program. Please make a contribution today.

The Next Two Million Days

By Lauren McGrath

The future sounds clearer and looks brighter for Ethan, age 6, who recently began wearing ReSound LiNX 3D hearing aids recommended by his audiologist. His new hearing aids were very generously donated to him by ReSound.

Ethan was born with mild-to-moderate hearing loss in his right ear and moderate hearing loss in his left. Thanks to universal newborn hearing screening legislation, an initiative promoted by Hearing Health Foundation and other organizations, Ethan was diagnosed at birth and able to receive immediate intervention. In 1993, only 5 percent of newborns were tested at birth for hearing loss; today 97 percent of babies are screened before they leave the hospital. Since age 6 weeks, Ethan has worn hearing aids and received speech therapy. He is now a happy first grader at a New Jersey school with many on-site services for students with hearing loss.

Ethan is an older brother to twin girls, an avid self-taught reader, a math enthusiast, a soccer player, and a martial arts student. He is ecstatic that his new hearing aids have already improved his life; from the moment he put them on, he noted how much more easily he could hear with them compared with his previous pair.

He especially appreciates their small size; the devices do not impede his favorite activities and don’t fall out. As Ethan is easily overwhelmed by noise, he also likes that he can seamlessly adjust the volume on his hearing aids through the ReSound Smart 3D smartphone app. He’s so proud of their style and features that he brags about them to his soccer teammates.

“Ethan asked me, ‘Can I wear my new hearing aids for the next two million days?’” says Jason, Ethan’s dad. It speaks volumes to Ethan’s experience that he is ready to make a 5,500-year commitment to his new hearing aids. At a young age, he is already on track to overcome the challenges associated with hearing loss. Ethan is confident about his hearing loss, and he and his family are thankful he was graciously provided with hearing devices that make him happy.

Ethan is one of our youngest participants in "Faces of Hearing Loss." This article originally appeared in the Winter 2018 issue of Hearing Health magazine. 

HHF Celebrates 60 Years

By Yishane Lee

The legacies of Collette Ramsey Baker and Wesley H. Bradley, M.D., underscore the shared mission of Hearing Health Foundation and the medical community to support and fund groundbreaking scientific research.

Sixty years ago, Collette Ramsey Baker founded Deafness Research Foundation, now known
as Hearing Health Foundation (HHF). After living with a hearing loss for decades, she found relief through fenestration surgery, an early otosclerosis treatment. In gratitude, Ramsey Baker wanted to give back. Her daughter, Collette Wynn, says, “My mother made a promise that, if the operation worked, she would do something to support research to find the causes of deafness and develop better treatments.” HHF was launched in 1958.

Ramsey Baker introduced her surgeon, Julius Lempert, M.D., who pioneered the fenestration surgery, and Walter Petryshyn, M.D., her otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat specialist), to finance and industry leaders, and from this talented group came HHF’s first Board of Directors, with Ramsey Baker becoming HHF’s president.

In 2006, this magazine ran a profile of Ramsey Baker featuring the recollections of HHF’s early years from Wesley H. Bradley, M.D., a skilled surgeon who went on to lead what became the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Bradley passed away in 2012, two years after Ramsey Baker.

In the article, Bradley recounts how HHF’s mission so impressed Lempert that he spoke about the organization to leading otologists. “These individuals quickly saw the advantage of supporting a group that was firmly established to promote otological research,” Bradley said.

One early effort was the creation, in 1960, of a program to encourage people to donate their temporal bones to hearing science upon death. The National Temporal Bone Registry, now
overseen by the NIDCD, has led to countless research breakthroughs.

In 1963, physician support of HHF was formalized with the creation of The Centurions, a group of doctors who covered HHF’s administrative costs so all funds raised went directly to hearing research. Physicians also joined the board and launched the Emerging Research Grants program, which remains HHF’s flagship along with the Hearing Restoration Project research consortium.

Bradley’s three-decade involvement with HHF, including as a founding Centurions member and medical director, was recognized with the Wesley H. Bradley, M.D., Memorial Grant, awarded to a promising ERG scientist in 2014. “I had the idea of honoring Wes’s work,” says Bradley’s wife, Barbara. “The many years he spent working at Deafness Research Foundation, it really was a labor of love. He believed very strongly in its mission.”

Says Elizabeth Keithley, Ph.D., the chair of HHF’s Board of Directors, “Planned giving is a major component of HHF’s success today and into the future. It is with these achievements and many more in mind that we celebrate 60 years and look toward more groundbreaking discoveries in hearing and balance science.”

Yishane Lee is the Editor of Hearing Health magazine, a quarterly publication of HHF. This article originally appeared in the Winter 2018 issue of Hearing Health magazine. Read more about Bradley in “A Family Gift” in the Fall 2014 issue and “A Tribute to Wesley H. Bradley, M.D.” in the Winter 2013 issue.

Get Moving to Preserve Your Hearing

By Yvonnie Phan

As 2018 begins, many Americans, motivated to improve their physical and mental wellbeing, have already made the popular New Year’s Resolution to exercise more frequently. This commitment has an additional, lesser-known benefit; exercise is proven to preserve hearing health. Engaging in physical activity with proper safety precautions can delay or prevent age-related hearing loss, or presbycusis, which affects a quarter of adults 65-74 and half of those older than 75.  

Cardiovascular exercise is vital to hearing health as one ages. A person over 50 years old without a genetic predisposition to hearing loss and who engages in cardio for 20-30 minutes five times weekly is more likely to maintain a healthy auditory system than someone with low cardiovascular activity. In a decade-long Miami University study of 1000 subjects of all ages, those over 50 with moderate-to-high cardiovascular fitness levels maintained hearing sensitivity comparable to people in their 30s, effectively delaying presbycusis.

An additional investigation from the University of Florida affirms that routine cardio provides the necessary blood flow, oxygen, and nutrients to maintain the health of important auditory systems within the cochlea. Lead author Shinichi Someya, Ph.D. explains that  “the cochlea, or inner ear, is a high-energy demanding organ.”

Stretching and yoga are healthy alternatives to cardiovascular exercise. These activities facilitate proper blood flow throughout the body and activate the muscles. While stretching or performing yoga poses, it’s important to focus on breathing to increase oxygen and blood flow. There are even yoga poses designed specifically for those with tinnitus.

The hearing health benefits of exercise can be negated by noise exposure or improper ear care, however.

Listening to audio through headphones at a loud volume can increase one’s chances of Music-Induced Hearing Loss (MIHL), as can the music played during exercise classes. Turning down the volume on your device, wearing earplugs, and giving ears time to recover from loud noises can help prevent damage to the auditory system.

Those who swim are encouraged to keep their ears dry. Moisture in the ear allows for bacteria, or even fungi and viruses, to attack the ear canal, which can lead to Swimmer’s Ear and cause temporary hearing loss. Dry ears immediately and do not insert anything, such as cotton swabs, into them.

Health professionals strongly recommend everyone incorporate exercise into their daily routine. There are many benefits in maintaining a consistent exercise regimen and we can now add hearing loss prevention to the list. Before starting a new fitness routine, consult your physician to assure the routine is safe and suitable for your health.

HHF Partner Hyperacusis Research Shares 14-Year-Old’s Heartbreaking Story to Fight Noise Intolerance

Photo Credit: Hyperacusis Research

By Lauren McGrath

Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) Emerging Research Grants (ERG) grant funder Hyperacusis Research—a nonprofit dedicated to developing effective treatments for hyperacusis and to funding research that will eliminate the underlying mechanisms that cause hyperacusis—has a new reason to fight to cure the noise intolerance disorder.

Cindy, 14 years old, has suffered from hyperacusis since she was blasted in the face with an airhorn one year ago. The blast almost immediately prompted “a burst of pain in [her] ear” that made it “feel like someone was stabbing [her].” Six months and several doctors’ visits later, an occupational therapist recognized her symptoms and diagnosed her with the disorder, which causes Cindy to experience pain at low levels of sound relative to what a person with typical hearing can withstand.

Once a happy and social eighth-grader, Cindy now rarely leaves her home. Secluded from the painful sounds of the outside world, her house has become “her sanctuary,” her mother explains. Her intolerance of everyday noises like the school cafeteria and teachers’ voices has forced her to leave public school in exchange for an isolating homeschool experience. “The thing I hate most is that I can’t see friends,” Cindy shares.

Cindy suffers from one of four hyperacusis subtypes called pain hyperacusis. The other three types, according to Hyperacusis Research, are loudness hyperacusis (which causes moderately intense sounds to be perceived as very loud), annoyance hyperacusis (which causes negative emotional reactions to sounds), and fear hyperacusis (which prompts an aversive response to sounds that causes anticipatory response and avoidance behavior). Specific medical treatments, at the moment,  do not yet exist for pain hyperacusis.

Those inspired to help Cindy can donate to Hyperacusis Research to advance the ontological knowledge of hyperacusis through research grants, including those awarded to HHF’s ERG investigators.

Since 2015, Hyperacusis Research has generously funded grants for a total of five ERG investigators focused on hyperacusis at the University at Buffalo, Oregon Health and Science University, and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. You can learn more about our ERG researchers’ efforts to better understand the mechanisms, causes, diagnosis, and treatments of hyperacusis and severe forms of loudness intolerance here.

We need your help supporting innovative hearing and balance science through our Emerging Research Grants program. Please make a contribution today.

Untreated Hearing Loss Puts Overall Health at Risk

Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) CEO Nadine Dehgan’s “Treating Hearing Health for Better Overall Health” was published online to My Prime Time News following its original print appearance in The American Legion’s December 2017 issue.

The article details how the state of the inner ear impacts other critical functions, like the heart and the brain. Cited are the various conditions that can arise as a result of untreated hearing loss, including cardiovascular disease, dementia, diabetes,  depression, and falls. When the auditory system is functioning well, however, the risk for these ailments declines.

Additionally, hearing loss is also linked to other medical conditions and drugs. People with anemia are twice as likely to have hearing loss. According to Peter Steyger, Ph.D., a scientific adviser to HHF. Further, certain cancer-fighting chemotherapy drugs, such as cisplatin, may permanently harm hearing.

While the relationship between hearing health and overall health is always significant, the publicity of “Treating Hearing Health for Better Overall Health” is an especially timely and helpful follow-up to ERG recipient Harrison Lin, M.D.’s new findings concerning the gaps between self-reported hearing loss and patients evaluation and treatments for hearing loss, which appeared in this month’s issue of JAMA Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery.

Individuals who believe they may have a hearing loss are encouraged to consult an audiologist or ENT, and can learn more about the relationship between hearing health and overall health in the full article on My Prime Time News.

New Method Enables Systematic Study of Hair Cell Loss and Regeneration in Chickens

By Carol Stoll

Most forms of hearing loss are permanent because damage to inner ear sensory hair cells is irreversible in mammals, including humans. Mammalian vestibular hair cells have the potential to regenerate albeit at a low rate, but the hair cells of the adult mammalian cochlea are not regenerated. Birds, however, have a robust regenerative response to hair cell damage and are able to restore structure and function in inner ear organs. Consequently, the study of the molecular mechanisms that trigger the onset of avian hair cell regeneration in the balance organs as well as in the cochlea is important and may lead to therapies for hearing loss in humans.

This image shows the undamaged and damaged utricle, an inner ear balance organ, in a chicken. HRP researchers have devised a new method to study the precise timing of hair cell regeneration in chickens using a single surgical application of an ototoxic drug. Photo by Amanda Janesick, Ph.D.

Past experiments that investigate these regeneration mechanisms in living chickens required multiple injections of a drug to induce hair cell loss, making it difficult to determine the exact timing of the regeneration response. A collaboration of two Hearing Restoration Project researchers, Stefan Heller, Ph.D. and Jennifer Stone, Ph.D., and two talented postdoctoral fellows from their laboratories was recently published in Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology identifying a potential solution to this problem. They developed an experimental framework that uses a single ototoxic drug application, enabling them to study the precise onset and timing of hair cell regeneration in vivo.

Heller, Stone, and colleagues performed their experiments on a total of 75 chickens. At seven days of age, the chickens were anesthetized and underwent surgery to eliminate hair cells in the inner ear organs. During the surgery, streptomycin (an ototoxic antibiotic) was delivered to the chicken’s inner ear. At various time points after the surgery, two sensory organs—the utricle, a vestibular organ; and the basilar papilla, the hearing organ—were dissected, labeled for various cellular markers, and analyzed under a microscope. Hair cells and their surrounding supporting cells were counted and observed for damage. EdU, a marker of cell division, was administered to the chickens to determine whether or not new hair cells were generated by cell division. These techniques enabled the researchers to quantitatively characterize the regenerative response of the utricle after damage.

The results of the study demonstrate that surgical application of a single streptomycin dose is a feasible approach to elicit hair cell loss and regeneration in the chicken utricle and basilar papilla. Just hours after streptomycin delivery, hair cell numbers significantly declined and DNA replication was activated. The team was then able to record specific events of the regeneration process, which get initiated around 12 hours after streptomycin-induced hair cell loss, and continue over the course of several days.

Supporting cells produce new hair cells either by converting into a hair cell (direct transdifferentiation), or by dividing, usually asymmetrically, into a supporting cell and a hair cell.  Throughout this regenerative response, supporting cell numbers and density in the utricle remain relatively constant, suggesting that there is a mechanism that responds to specific levels of damage and coordinates the individual events of the regeneration process.

The study establishes a framework for the refined study of the two modes of hair cell regeneration in the chicken utricle. The next steps of the work will focus on understanding the exact timing and mechanism of coordination of the regeneration response. With only a single application of streptomycin necessary to induce near-complete hair cell loss in hearing and balance organs, the new animal model allows for study of the entire process including initiation, realization, and termination. The fundamental understanding of the avian regenerative mechanisms may lead to future development of therapies for loss of hearing and balance in humans.

Empower the Hearing Restoration Project's life-changing research. If you are able, please make a contribution today.

2018: Hear's to You

By Nadine Dehgan

From every one of us at Hearing Health Foundation (HHF)—scientists, staff, and volunteers—thank you for your support in 2017 and best wishes for 2018.

Because of folks like you, 2017 was an incredible year in which HHF:

• Increased funding for Hearing Restoration Project & Emerging Research Grants by 35%

• Launched Ménière's Disease Grants program to better understand & treat this condition

• Began to fund critical Ototoxic Drug Research so cancer survivors won't have to live with hearing loss as a result of their life-saving treatments

• Advocated for universal newborn hearing screenings, resulting in the passage of the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act

• Endorsed the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act, which will provide a more affordable and accessible treatment option for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss

• Created Faces of Hearing Loss to show that hearing and balance disorders affect all of us

• Received Top Ratings from all Charity Watchdogs including Consumer Reports and BBB

With hearts full of gratitude, we look forward to the work to be done in 2018—HHF’s 60th anniversary year.

With your help, HHF will continue to fund groundbreaking discoveries for the tens of millions of Americans with hearing loss and tinnitus—among whom is Ethan, 6, born with bilateral (in both ears) hearing loss and fortunate to receive early intervention.

Ethan is a first-grader who loves his sisters, soccer, reading, math, and martial arts. Until a cure for hearing loss is realized, he will be dependent on hearing aids or other treatments.

New scientific findings in 2018—empowered by you—can change the future of hearing loss for Ethan and so many others. I look forward to updating you on progress made.