The Hearing Knowledge Hub
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The first sound recordings from Mars.
Hearing sounds that are out-of-this-world? Perhaps a few times in a lifetime our ears enable us to have unique and unforgettable individual experiences. It may be hearing the cry of your first child as he or she enters the world, or being asked ‘will you marry me?’. Thanks to today’s incredible developments in technology we can also now have unforgettable hearing experiences as a global society. The first alien recording If you’ve been following the adventures of Perseverance, the latest NASA rover to land on Mars, you may know that, as well as being equipped with state of the art cameras, an X-ray spectrometer, radar and weather station, Perseverance has…
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Can new earbud tech treat disease?
A new start-up is using special earbuds to channel electrical pulses into the outer ear to ‘hack’ into the brain’s neural circuits with the aim of treating disease. The company, Nēsos, is targeting the vagus nerve, which connects the brain to key organs, with the aim of regulating inflammation and treating rheumatoid arthritis. It’s producing some interesting results. In a study, 30 people with rheumatoid arthritis used the earbuds for a few minutes a day, for three months. By the end of the study, half of them had improved in a clinically meaningful way. More than half of those who had benefited showed a 20% improvement, a third improved by…
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Seeing noise differently in lockdown
At The Hearing Clinic we’re very focused on noise. After all, very loud noise experienced at work or during leisure pursuits can cause irreversible hearing damage – something we often see in our clients. Few people probably realise that noise is considered pollution but the World Health Organisation has stated that noise pollution is the second most dangerous environmental risk factor for humans after air pollution. The world goes quiet We’ve been watching with interest the noise-related side effects of the last year’s lockdowns across the world. Like many people, we were amazed at the photos of usually-bustling city centres reduced to silence – particularly when wild animals began to…
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One step closer to a cure for hearing loss?
If you have a hearing loss, you’ll probably know that this can be as a result of damage to the specialist hair cells that are found in the inner ear. These cells are crucial for hearing, because they either amplify sounds that come into the ear, or change sound waves into electrical signals for the brain to interpret. New research Now, a study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) in the US has determined the role that a critical protein plays in the development of these special inner ear hair cells. The researchers, keen to understand how these cells develop, have found that the protein,…
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Hearing aids stimulate the brain
Hearing loss is one of the leading chronic health conditions among adults, and the most common type of hearing loss is age-related hearing loss (ARHL) – a slow but steady loss of hearing. As ARHL is a slow process, many people who experience it find ways to adapt to the loss. But a recent study by scientists at the University of Colorado in the US, and highlighted in the Hearing Review, may make you think again about leaving it too long to seek help. How does the brain respond to hearing loss? The Colorado study shows that untreated hearing loss, even a mild case, may lead to an impairment, or…
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Feel the BUZZ
A new wearable device, now available worldwide, is enabling people with hearing impairment to feel sounds on their skin. The Neosensory Buzz looks like an Apple Watch or Fitbit and enables the wearer to feel water running, an alarm ringing, or someone calling their name. Developed by neuroscientists, Buzz turns sound into vibration that you can feel on your wrist and gives you another channel to experience sound by sending it directly to your brain via the sense of touch. You can programme Buzz to suit your unique needs and it will adjust to your surroundings, cancelling out any noise you don’t want to hear. You can feel the beat…
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Keep your hearing aids happy in the cold
There’s nothing better than a walk on a crisp winter day before warming up by a fire, but spare a thought for your hearing aids which need to tackle some huge temperature extremes at this time of year. Going from, potentially, minus temperatures outside to plus-twenty inside can create condensation inside your hearing aids. This can risk damage to your devices’ complex internal workings, such as the microphone and receiver. Troubleshooting problems with your devices You may find the sound cuts out, fades or comes and goes, or you experience sound distortion. Do a battery check to ensure you’re not just needing new batteries. Clean away moisture inside the device…
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Getting a new smart phone?
Were you the lucky recipient of a new mobile phone for Christmas? Or are you planning to buy one for a loved one? Did you know that your smartphone has various features to help you protect your hearing health? So much of our life now happens through our smartphone. We call, text, email or videocall our friends, family and work colleagues. We watch films and TV, listen to music, read books, share content on social platforms, all from a single pocket-sized device. But this means it’s also all too easy to expose our hearing to excessively high sound levels when we’re plugged into our phones with earphones. Understanding the pros…
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Go for captions!
Video calls are here to stay. Are you getting the most from them? If you’re living with hearing loss and have been working from home during the pandemic, you may have become a regular on work video calls. In which case, you may have mastered this communication tool. However, if the nature of your work means you don’t do video calling very often, or you’re not particularly technology-savvy, here are some tips to help you get the most from this style of meeting. With so many of us video calling friends too, these tips should help you in your social life and your work life. Go for captions Many of…
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Revealing the ocean’s secrets – with earwax
Because we see so much of it, here at The Hearing Clinic we’re a lot less squeamish about earwax than many people. In fact, we think earwax is pretty amazing. Here’s why. Earwax is predominantly made up of dead skin cells and the rest is fatty acids, alcohols and cholesterol. As earwax moves out of the ear canal it travels at around the same speed as your fingernails grow, taking with it any particles that may have gathered in the canal and damaged the eardrum. Earwax is even known to kill off some types of bacteria. The ‘go to’ substance In medieval times, earwax was used to prepare pigments used…
