The Hearing Knowledge Hub
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Do you have auditory processing disorder?
Do you have APD? Even when a person has normal hearing, they may still face challenges with listening and processing information. This is called auditory processing disorder, or APD. APD is a lifelong disability and an acknowledged hearing impairment by the World Health Organisation. It’s unrelated to intelligence but it can affect your ability to take on board information, follow directions, read and engage in conversation. A child with APD will find it harder to learn to read and spell. Every person who is living with APD is affected differently, depending on their ability to cope and adapt. APD also varies in severity, day-to-day and during the day and can…
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Noise in the workplace. What you need to know.
Studies show dentists have twice the rate of hearing loss and tinnitus compared to the general population due to the loud drills and equipment that they use daily. The noise from these can top 90 decibels (dB). According to the NHS, any sound over 85dB can be harmful to hearing. Since 2008, the Control of Noise at Work Regulations have applied to all workplaces. These state that a daily noise exposure averaged over eight hours of 80dB requires employers to provide information, training and make hearing protection available. When that level reaches 85dB, employers are required to take measures to reduce noise exposure. That means wearing hearing protection and providing hearing…
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Are the beers affecting your ears?
Today marks the beginning of Alcohol Awareness Week, and, while we don’t want to get preachy, it’s important to understand how regularly overindulging on the booze can lead to damaged hearing. Excessive drinking causes a toxic environment in the inner ear, damaging those tiny hair cells that translate sound into electrical impulses that are sent to the brain, which can lead to hearing loss. Excessive booze damages the auditory cortex in the brain, making you unable to correctly process sounds. It can also change the volume and composition of fluid in the inner ear, causing dizziness and imbalance as well as hearing loss. Tinnitus can be an unwelcome side effect too.…
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November is stress awareness month. How does stress affect your hearing health?
For many people, the past 18 months of pandemic life have been among the most stressful of their lives for a host of reasons. With November the month of International Stress Awareness Week, it seems like a good time to remind everyone of the link between stress and hearing damage. As well as being bad for the heart, circulatory problems can also put your hearing at risk. Good circulation is vital if the small sensory hairs of the inner ear are to work properly and do their job of translating the noise received by your outer ears into electrical impulses for the brain to interpret as sound. Deprive them of…
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3D Printed Eardrums!
Hearing in 3-dimensions? If you’ve been wondering what the point of 3-D printing is, let us introduce you to a new development in hearing health. A team of Harvard researchers and surgeons in the USA have developed a 3-D printed graft that can be implanted to repair a damaged eardrum. Called the PhonoGraft, this innovation has just entered commercial development and aims to solve the pain and hearing loss of eardrum perforation – a problem that affects millions of people worldwide. The eardrum, known as the tympanic membrane, is a thin membrane that conducts sound in the ear and protects against any nasties like bacteria or viruses that may find…
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Are your child’s headphones damaging their hearing?
We’re obviously all very aware of protecting our children from viewing inappropriate content online, but fewer of us will have thought about the damage being caused to our children’s hearing by the volume of the content they’re viewing. Children today have a world of audio and video content served up to them via computers, tablets, consoles and phones, and they’ll often use devices like headphones, earphones and earbuds – collectively called ‘hearables’ – to listen to this content. But until now it hasn’t been possible for parents to know how loud, or for how long, their children have been listening. This obviously creates the potential for permanent hearing damage. The World Health…
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Is CBT the solution to managing tinnitus?
Tinnitus does not need to rule your life. There are approaches, ranging from hearing technology to masking and sound therapy, which do genuinely manage the condition, bringing relief from the often-constant noise in your head. Change your thoughts, feelings and response Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for tinnitus is an excellent and effective approach we use at The Hearing Clinic with clients experiencing tinnitus. This NICE-recommended treatment works by teaching you how to completely alter the way you think about, and respond to, tinnitus. Here’s how it works. Your thoughts influence over how you feel and behave. For example, if you’re running late for a meeting, it’s easy to become frustrated,…
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Is medicine close to restoring lost hearing?
Scientists from the University of Southern California have made a fascinating discovery linked to the inner ear’s sensory cells and their ability to regenerate, which may help science edge closer to a medical solution to restoring lost hearing. The inner ear contains two types of sensory cells, ‘hair’ cells that receive sound vibrations, and supporting cells that play various functional roles. When the hair cells are damaged due to wear and tear over time, or due to noise damage, they don’t regenerate, leading to permanent – or sensorineural – hearing loss. The US scientists found that, for the first few days of life, the supporting cells in the…
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Hearing impairment can be genetic
Today marks the start of Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week. While many people have never heard of mitochondrial disease (often referred to as mito), this genetic disorder affects one in 5,000 people, making it the second most commonly diagnosed, serious genetic disease after cystic fibrosis. In fact, every 30 minutes, a child is born who will develop a mitochondrial disease by age 10. Everyone has mitochondria in their cells – it provides 90% of the energy needed to sustain life. But the disease, for which there is yet no cure, robs the body’s cells of energy, often causing multiple organ dysfunction. The parts of the body that need the most energy,…
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Migraines and link with hearing loss
Migraine and hearing loss – a strong link Migraine can be linked to hearing loss, Migraine is a debilitating disease that affects some 1 billion people worldwide. Chances are, you either suffer from migraines or know someone who does. These incapacitating headaches affect people of all genders and ages, and involve a host of disabling symptoms, including visual disturbances, nausea, and extreme sensitivity to stimuli. It’s thought that 4 million people worldwide have chronic daily migraines. Today marks the start of this year’s Migraine Awareness Week, which makes it a good time to highlight the link between migraine and hearing loss. Many studies have found a link In an…
