The class of antibiotics known as aminoglycosides is the standard of care for many serious bacterial infections. Studies report that hearing loss as a side effect from undergoing these treatments can range from 11 to 67 percent. Now, 2023–2024 Emerging Research Grants scientist Francisco Barros-Becker, Ph.D., and team are detailing how these drugs are able to kill hair cells, which may provide new therapeutic avenues to make these important drugs less ototoxic and safer for hearing.
Image: In zebrafish, a lysosome-disrupting treatment (GPN) protects hair cells from the antibiotic gentamicin, which damages cells slowly, but not from the antibiotic neomycin, which acts quickly. This suggests these two aminoglycosides kill cells through different pathways—gentamicin involves lysosomes, while neomycin does not.
Our partner Les Paul Foundation is celebrating Les Paul’s birthday June 9: Despite hearing challenges, Les Paul persevered as a musician, inventor, and educator. We are grateful for their ongoing support of tinnitus research.
Our partner Cures Within Reach has a request for proposals for clinical repurposing trials in Ménière’s disease and other related disorders. Letter of intent due June 13. Get additional details here.
Plus:
Research from hearing, language, and cognitive studies helps us better assess children who struggle to listen even though their standard hearing tests are typical.
Beula Magimairaj, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, a 2015 ERG scientist generously funded by Royal Arch Research Assistance, will explain how different challenges can occur together, effective testing methods, and impacts on school performance and educational needs. This hourlong research webinar starts at 5pm ET, please register here.
Around the Web:
These audio glasses are hearing aids I actually want to wear (Wired), this life-changing piece of health tech is getting cheaper—and more advanced (Vox), audiologist-fitted hearing aids outperform over-the-counter ones (MedicalXpress)
Brain networks rewire to compensate for difficulty hearing speech in noisy environments (University at Buffalo), midlife hearing loss linked to faster brain aging (Neuroscience News)
Hearing impairment and dementia: cause, catalyst or consequence? (Journal of Neurology), when hearing loss changes the brain: a new hypothesis for understanding cognitive decline (HearingTracker), brain-healthy behaviors for adults over 50 (AARP)
Addressing hearing loss may reduce isolation among the elderly (NYU Langone), loneliness increases risk of hearing loss: evidence from large-scale U.K. Biobank data (EurekAlert), hearing loss tied to heart failure in part via emotional strain (JAMA), Millennials and Gen Z are at increased risk for hearing loss (Healthy Hearing)
Changes in the auditory cortex of children receiving gene therapy for deafness (Nature Human Behavior), new machine learning tool predicts a child’s personal risk for chemotherapy-caused hearing loss (MedicalXpress), 60 percent of childhood hearing loss is preventable (The Hearing Review)
AI reveals how hearing, mood, and sleep predict who suffers the most from tinnitus (News Medical), tinnitus and PTSD (Texas Public Radio)
Book on sudden hearing loss fills important information gap (HearingTracker)
Plants can hear tiny wing flaps of pollinators (Popular Science), scientists are decoding a songbird’s complex calls (The Conversation)
Products and services are not endorsed by Hearing Health Foundation. Links provided are for informational purposes only.
