This control experiment shows that the hearing organ must be intact for sound to produce pain-related behavior. This may seem obvious, but it’s important to understand that the pain you experience does not come only from your eardrum or outer ear.

Partial silence/Hours in thought and talk/My dog listened and understood/Time in hours on the old back porch/I was in my own safe, social world.

Patients who started with low wear time and increased it by six months did just as well at one year as those who wore their processor consistently from the start. Patients whose use declined did measurably worse. A slow start is not a verdict.

What changed things was a program almost nobody talks about: state vocational rehabilitation. Every state has a version of this department, just under a different name. The idea behind all of them is the same: If a disability is standing between you and a job, the state will help remove it. Hearing loss counts. Hearing aids count.

Overall our findings suggest that differences in speech-in-noise ability may reflect a combination of early auditory processing, attention, and how strongly the brain represents target speech compared with background noise. 

Cerumen (earwax) moves like a conveyor belt, removing the debris laterally and outward toward the opening of the ear canal where it flakes off. 

Stigma, cost, access. Three people I loved, three different barriers.

When performing, I usually play and sing with a small amplifier, using a microphone for vocals, a jazz banjo, or a vintage arch-top guitar with a pickup. The combination of Ménière’s and tinnitus creates practical challenges onstage.

Diagnosed with central auditory processing disorder as a child, this newly graduated actress-model plans to use her degree in speech-language pathology and audiology to improve outcomes for fellow CAPD patients.

Although it’s one of our most important connections to the world around us, most people don’t routinely monitor changes in their hearing, track exposure to excessive noise, or include hearing screenings as part of their regular preventative care.

With support from an R21 grant from the NIH, Hui Hong, Ph.D., will investigate how the auditory efferent system changes after noise-induced hearing loss and whether those changes help or hinder recovery.

Most people don’t think about protecting their hearing until it’s too late. Every concert, loud commute, and noisy day adds up—and there’s no undo button.