I said, “I have a hearing problem. I couldn’t catch what you said. Please can you look this way and repeat that?” It’s amazing how this combination inspires an appropriate and thoughtful response. I almost always find people are pleased to accommodate the differently abled, once you’ve given them the information they need.
Play a Game of Catch This Thanksgiving (for Good Communication)
Successful communication can be compared to playing a game of catch. In a communication exchange there is a sender of the message (the speaker) and a receiver of the message (the listener). In a game of catch, there is a thrower and a catcher. Both the thrower and the catcher are required to work together to make the game thrive.
Researchers With Hearing Loss Call for Equity and Inclusion in STEM Fields
Providing some basic standards of support will greatly increase diversity in fields of science and medicine, a group of scientists with hearing loss argue in a new perspective published in Frontiers in Education.
It Goes Both Ways
I’m always thinking about how hard it is for me not to hear him, which happens pretty often. It’s just constant conversational static that we try to deal with as best we can. Not perfect, by a long shot. But it’s hard for him, too. It must seem like I’m not paying attention, or not trying hard enough.
Impact 2021
Hearing Health Foundation is grateful for the support of our community to advance our mission to find better treatments and cures for hearing loss, tinnitus, and related conditions in 2021. We’re proud to share this list of significant scientific achievements this past year.
Common Loud Noises Cause Fluid Buildup in the Inner Ear—Which May Be Easily Resolved
Researchers discovered that after exposure to 100 decibels, the mice developed inner ear fluid buildup within hours. A week after this exposure, the mice were found to have lost auditory nerve cells. However, when researchers applied hypertonic saline, a salt-based solution used to treat nasal congestion in humans, into the affected mouse ears one hour after the noise exposure, both the immediate fluid buildup and the long-term nerve damage lessened, implying that the hearing loss could be at least partially prevented.
A Veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq Urges Better Hearing Protection for Soldiers
We often hear about the devastating injuries sustained by soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Their suffering is profound and should be a bigger part of our national consciousness. We Americans should also talk about the most common disabilities experienced by veterans—hearing loss and tinnitus. These are less visible but insidious conditions that can seriously upend every aspect of veterans’ lives: their overall physical and psychological wellness, along with social interactions, even work performance.
Make Your Smartphone Even Smarter
If you are any age and have both a hearing loss and a smartphone, “get smart” is how to educate you and your phone. Smartphones have allowed us a degree of freedom and communication access undreamed of in the not too distant past.
Novel Small Molecule Promotes Synaptic Regeneration In Vitro
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.