Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is very pleased to announce the addition of four new members to our Board of Directors: Andreas H. Eckhard, M.D., Steven D. Rauch, M.D., Konstantina Stankovic, M.D., Ph.D., FACS, and Daniel J. Tollin, Ph.D. 

A person becomes hard of hearing, caregivers and families start raising their voices, no one likes shouting at another person, the conversations decline.

A simple, universal visual warning system (like a red, yellow, or green noise-level indicator at a concert venue, racetrack, or theme park) instantly conveys danger, warning, or safety to people of all ages. Combined with access to basic foam earplugs and insertion instructions, a simple prompt can transform behavior.

Hearing loss began affecting how I saw myself. There is a word in Chinese that describes how I felt: 自卑 (zìbēi), a feeling of insecurity and inferiority that makes you shrink yourself around other people.

Our Emerging Research Grants program is the leading seed funding opportunity for early stage researchers. ERG also includes Expanded and Focused Discovery Awards, which are grant opportunities in specific topics (such as central auditory processing disorder, hyperacusis, Ménière’s disease, and tinnitus) that are open to eligible investigators at any career stage.

Otoaging is a new word I coined to describe both the premature aging of cochlear hair cells and synapses caused by noise, and the end result, hearing loss in old age. I was inspired by the term photoaging, used by dermatologists to describe the premature aging of the skin by sun.

In addition to recent or current grantees, to underscore the lasting implications that basic science research can hold, scientists whose funding was a decade—or decades—ago cite HHF in new papers stemming from their grants.

This study provides evidence that TECTB is a novel human deafness gene. In addition, it reveals a gene–environment interaction in which the variant sensitizes the cochlea to noise trauma, leading to long‐term functional consequences.

In the aging model, we explored neuronal alterations in the auditory brainstem and reproduced changes observed in aged gerbils. These results suggest that the model can help identify possible neural explanations for changes in hearing test results.

If irony were for sale, we’d all be rich. We pay premium prices to sit in dining rooms specifically to communicate, yet the room itself makes communication nearly impossible. 

The resulting SGN-like neurons matched the appearance, molecular structure, electrical behavior, and functional characteristics of SGN cells in vivo.

The key is to introduce myself as usual and let people get to know my personality first. If I miss something during the conversation, I simply let them know: “Hey, I have hearing loss, do you mind saying that again?”