Credit: @irasutoya/Canva
Cochlear implantation has become a solution for children with severe to profound single-sided deafness (SSD), but highly variable outcomes are being observed with alarming rates of device nonuse. One possible factor is co-occurring psychological diagnoses such as autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, and depression. While taking care not to overgeneralize, Amanda Griffin, Ph.D., Au.D., and team found significant neuropsychological vulnerabilities in children with SSD pursuing cochlear implantation. Griffin’s 2025-2026 Emerging Research Grant (ERG) is generously supported by Royal Arch Research Assistance.
Newly awarded an R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health, ERG scientist Hui Hong, Ph.D., is investigating how the auditory efferent system changes after noise-induced hearing loss using a cutting-edge technology called Patch-seq that pairs live cellular recordings with genetic analysis. Hong is a 2026 recipient of an Elizabeth M. Keithley, Ph.D. Early Stage Investigator Award.
Congrats to HHF partners Quiet Communities on winning a landmark noise pollution ruling against the Environmental Protection Agency and Hears for celebrating two years of their earplugs startup!
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For Make-a-Will Month this August, we are sharing a will-writing tool that is free to use through our partner FreeWill. In just 20 minutes you can protect your family and record your wishes. A future gift to HHF helps us prevent and find better treatments and cures for hearing loss and tinnitus.
Your legacy gift supports top-tier scientists through HHF’s Hearing Restoration Project and Emerging Research Grants. Right now your planned gift to HHF—such as a bequest or beneficiary designation of a retirement fund or life insurance policy—will be matched with our $1 million match challenge.
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Around the Web:
WHO updates dementia prevention guidelines, elevates hearing loss and hearing aid use to core public health priorities (The Hearing Review)
New postnatal gene therapy offers hope for congenital hearing loss (MedicalXpress), breakthrough Israeli study finds potential path to reversing hearing loss (The Jerusalem Post), and chronic tinnitus isn’t just ringing—it’s rewiring the brain (ScienceAlert)
Chinese researchers develop device for hearing-impaired people to ‘understand’ sound (China Daily) and first animal behavior test shows first animal behavior test shows contactless cochlear stimulation can mimic sound cochlear stimulation can mimic sound (MedicalXpress)
Balancing data center concerns, economic development (Jefferson City News Tribune), the Nashville Zoo has become an unlikely battleground in America’s data center race (CNN), and ‘The Odyssey’ is too loud, complain fans as cinemas hand out earplugs (Daily Mail)
The 60-60 AirPods rule: what the science actually says (Technology.org), the same AirPods blamed for hearing loss can now help with screening and treatment, research confirms, and sneaky hearing loss symptoms and expert-backed fixes (Woman’s World)
Counseling patients on hearing loss risks in group fitness classes (The Hearing Review), pickleball noise: the physiological and psychological effects on nearby residents (Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics), and quieter exercise may preserve physical exertion, hearing (American Dental Association)
The test that finds the hearing loss doctors cannot detect (Horizon Magazine), before babies can hear, their brains are already wiring for sound (Johns Hopkins), and the same sounds are mapped similarly in the human and mouse brain, study finds (MedicalXpress)
What deafness can teach us about being ‘articulate’ (Emory News), how a Korean immigrant’s English struggle helped deaf users make phone calls (The Korea Herald), and animator launches ‘Small Talk’ ASL learning app & series project (Animation Magazine)
Extreme dizziness but no headache? It could be a vestibular migraine (The New York Times) and finding my village through vestibular migraine (Vestibular Disorders Association)
1 in 4 adults with type 2 diabetes experiences hearing loss, review finds (Medical News Today), metabolic disorders driving hearing loss (Medscape), breast cancer hearing and balance side effects worsen with age (Breastcancer.org), and the five common medicines that could be harming your hearing (The Independent)
Physical activity may protect older adults from hearing loss, new study finds (University of South Carolina), study links hearing aid use to lower frailty risk (HearingTracker), and study finds higher steroid doses linked to better recovery in sudden hearing loss (Hearing Practitioner News)
The ACTIVE Study and DTx: a new chapter for auditory-brain training? (Hearing Health & Technology Matters) and auditory training: there’s an app for that (The Hearing Review)
Why aren’t hearing aids covered by insurance? (HearingTracker) and meet three university students who created hearing aids that could cost $20 a pair (CBC News)
Huey Lewis opens up about how being ‘basically deaf’ has changed his life: ‘music is not part of my life anymore’ (People) and how I ‘hear’ music (Katherine Bouton)
‘Once it’s gone, it’s gone’: how to future-proof your hearing (BBC), the cost of noise exposure: protect your hearing today (Hearing Health & Technology Matters), and are younger generations in the U.S. going deaf? (The Cavalier Daily)
Ephphatha! When a $1M deafness cure comes at no cost (Inside Precision Medicine), historic gene therapy milestone for Cockayne syndrome carries implications for hearing loss community, and help everyone hear in your community with assistive listening systems (The Hearing Review)
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