The Hearing Knowledge Hub
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Groundbreaking surgery restores toddler’s hearing
Groundbreaking surgery restores toddler’s hearing After a 16-minute surgical procedure, 18-month-old Opal Sandy now has near-normal hearing. The toddler, from Oxfordshire, had her hearing restored as part of a pioneering gene therapy trial. Opal was born with auditory neuropathy, which disrupts nerve impulses between the inner ear and the brain, thought to be the cause of a faulty gene. During the surgery at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, Opal received an infusion containing a working copy of the gene, and can now hear almost perfectly. The outcome follows decades of work to reach a solution that worked in humans, and the therapy was developed by biotech firm, Regeneron. The trial will…
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National Writing Day
Discover inspirational deaf authors on National Writing Day Today is National Writing Day which made us think about the writers and books we love, particularly ones either written by deaf or hard of hearing people, or that feature characters who are deaf or hard of hearing. If you’re looking to discover some inspiring writing, look no further, with a few of our top picks. For crime lovers, Dark Pines, by Will Dean, offers up some Scandi-noir as protagonist, Tuva, a deaf journalist, strives to solve a cold case from twenty years ago. In A Maiden’s Grave by Jeffery Deaver, deaf students are taken hostage by escaped convicts and use sign language as their…
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Poor captioning in the cinema
Deaf audiences are being excluded from fully experiencing the films they see because of issues with captioning – that’s according to research from the University of Sheffield. The study found that poor quality captions meant deaf audiences couldn’t experience elements like suspense. In some films, the descriptions of sound lacked specific information key to the plot and therefore affected how much suspense deaf audiences felt during the film. However, good things are possible and have been done on some films or TV series. For example, on the Stranger Things series, the captioners worked with orchestrators to choose the best descriptions of sound to help deaf audiences best experience relevant moments.…
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UCL work on a cure for hearing loss.
Researchers at University College London, and University College London Hospital have successfully completed a world-first trial of a therapy designed to restore hearing loss. The REGAIN trial was set up to test the effects of a drug called gamma secretase inhibitor LY3056480, which is thought to regenerate functioning sensory hair cells in the inner ear – the vital cells that help to transmit sound to the brain. While the drug didn’t meet the high bar set by the research team of restoring hearing across the group of adults with mild to moderate hearing loss, analysis did show positive changes in hearing tests in some patients. Trial participants, who were aged…
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Hyperacusis. Are you sensitive to loud sounds?
Are loud sounds overwhelming or painful? Damage or changes to the inner ear, either from the ageing process, a head injury, ear infection or exposure to loud noise, can reduce your tolerance for sound and lead to a condition called hyperacusis. If you suffer from hyperacusis you’ll know about it because you’ll experience discomfort and even severe pain – sometimes in response to moderate or even soft sounds. You might also suffer from tinnitus, a ringing or buzzing sound experienced in the ears or head, which is reported by more than 80% of people who have hyperacusis. It’s thought that hyperacusis is caused by changes in the central auditory system,…
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Grafts that replicate the human ear!
Researchers produce 3D printed grafts replicating the human ear Scientists have used state-of-the-art tissue engineering techniques and a 3D printer to create a replica of an adult human ear that looks and feels natural – good news for people who may be born with a malformed ear, or who experience trauma to an ear. Ears are extremely hard to reconstruct – requiring multiple surgical procedures, not to mention a high level of artistry from the surgeon. This new technology may therefore lead to a solution that feels real for thousands of people. Traditionally, surgeons would build a replacement ear using cartilage removed from the patient’s ribs. However, this can be…
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Tasha opens up about her Deaf accent.
An ex-Love Island contestant has been raising the profile of deaf people, and the accent people who are deaf, or who have a profound hearing loss, can have when they speak. Tasha Ghouri was Love Island’s first deaf contestant, and she recently posted on her TikTok channel sounding different. Tasha usually wears her cochlear implant to help her hear, but one morning chose to film her daily beauty vlog without her implant. Speaking to her followers in her ‘deaf accent’ Tasha said, “I don’t know how loud I’m speaking, or how clear I’m speaking. I normally never put my cochlear implant in in the morning.” She added that similar videos…
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Breakthrough in understanding Noise Induced Hearing Loss
Researchers have discovered the molecular mechanism that underpins noise-induced hearing loss, paving the way for the development of an effective medical treatment. A team at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the USA have published a study showing that noise-induced hearing loss stems from cellular damage in the inner ear associated with an excess of free-floating zinc, an essential mineral for proper cell function and hearing. By performing experiments in mice and on isolated cells of the inner ear, the researchers found that, hours after mice were exposed to loud noise, their inner ear zinc levels spiked. Loud sound exposure causes a robust release of zinc which leads…
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The Loudest Fish!
Scientists at the Charité University in Berlin have discovered that a tiny, transparent fish, called the Danionella cerebrum, makes a sound as loud as a pneumatic drill. The team started to investigate after hearing mysterious clicking noises coming from the fish tanks in their lab. The Danionella cerebrum drums out a rhythm on an organ called a swim bladder. Close to the fish, this manifests at 140 decibels – as loud as a gunshot. The fish is only 12mm long, and is thought to be the loudest fish for its size yet found. What’s the drumming for? The pistol shrimp can create very loud noises as it hunts – up…
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What is your hearing number?
What is your hearing number? Most people have a reasonable idea of their blood pressure and cholesterol or are at least aware of what the healthy ranges are. However, very few know what a typical hearing level consists of. But all that may be about to change. A NEW CAMPAIGN Doctors at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US have launched a ‘Know your hearing number’ campaign. The aim of the campaign is that every person should know what their hearing number is so they can more easily track and measure their hearing health over time and have informed conversations about this aspect of their health. Your…
