World Hearing Day is an annual awareness day every March 3 that the World Health Organization (WHO) created to promote hearing health globally. The theme for this year’s World Hearing Day is: “To hear for life, listen with care!” Here at Hearing Health Foundation (HHF), we couldn’t agree more.
With or Without Significant Hearing Loss, Older Mice Show Difficulty With Brain Processing
This new research indicates that even mild hearing loss with aging may result in a decline in temporal processing under challenging conditions, such as environments with increased noise.
A Wakeup Call
Whether you’re knowledgeable about noise-induced hearing loss or not, you would probably try to avoid things like having a trumpet blasted point-blank into your ear. But that was me, 10 years ago, in a 7th grade band class, crying from the pain in my ear and leaving school early so my mom could whisk me straight to an audiologist.
When You Have to Think and Walk, What Happens to Your Balance?
Most activities of daily living require us to do two or more things at the same time, especially motor tasks (walking, standing, moving) with some form of a cognitive task (navigating, talking, decision-making). But it is not yet entirely clear what happens to balance performance in healthy individuals when they are also performing a cognitive task.
Harmonically Distorted Power
I played guitar onstage steadily for the better part of 10 years, and every hour I was allowed to spend in front of a crowd was the product of ten times as much time rehearsing. And like my guitar heroes, I wanted, I craved, I “needed” to play through the legendary Marshall amplifier stack: 100 (sometimes for me, 200) watts of harmonically distorted power blasting through 8 speakers in 2 cabinets (4 speakers in each) stacked 6 feet high!
Hear Me Out
That I would have tinnitus or even a hearing loss wasn’t that surprising. I’d spent the better part of my adult life as a music journalist listening to loud music, either via headphones or at clubs and concerts. Back in my 20s my gauge for a satisfying night out was if the bass levels were so intense that my stomach hurt. Not the healthiest of benchmarks.
I’m 24 and Have Hearing and Balance Challenges
During my third year at University of Michigan, where I was studying biochemistry and French, I became aware of an unfamiliar, jarring sensation—extreme dizziness. If I closed my eyes for just a little bit, I’d feel my surroundings spinning. It was around the same time I recognized my difficulties hearing in large lecture halls.
Evidence of Brain Tissue Damage From Blast Overpressure
Our results indicate that a single unilateral blast significantly impairs the structural and functional integrity at all levels of the central auditory neuraxis, or the auditory pathway in the higher brain centers. Overall, it is evident that the structural integrity of brain tissue is compromised at all levels.
Memories and Music: My Life as a Real-Life ‘CODA’
I cannot tell you how many times in my 32 years people have asked me, “What is it like to have parents who are deaf?” My answer has always been the same, regardless of who is asking or how old I am, “What is it like to have hearing parents?”
A Historical Perspective on Surgery to Treat Ménière’s Disease
Since it was first discovered, Ménière’s disease has been a disorder managed primarily by otolaryngologists. As a result, surgical treatments have accompanied attempts at medical management. Inspired by patients' sensations of ear fullness and later by the histologic findings of hydrops, surgeons began manipulating the membranous labyrinth to relieve episodes of vertigo while attempting to preserve hearing.