30th Anniversary Of First Pediatric Cochlear ImplantThis July, House Ear Institute (HEI) celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the first pediatric cochlear implant. HEI received FDA approval for a clinical trial in July 1980 to implant three patients under the age of 18 with the single-channel cochlear implant. The single-channel device had been developed at HEI by William House, M.D., in the 1960s and successfully implanted in adults...
Autism Detected In Unique Vocal Signature Of Baby Talk Using a new type of "vocal signature" technology that focuses on sound patterns rather than words in child vocalizations and baby talk, researchers in the US say they have proved in principle that it is possible to screen for autism spectrum disorders in young children; they also hope the new method will greatly enhance the study of language development because it...
Gene Mutation Identified, Causes Rare Form Of DeafnessResearchers have identified a gene mutation that causes a rare form of hearing loss known as auditory neuropathy, according to U-M Medical School scientists. In the study published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, U-M's Marci Lesperance, M.D., and Margit Burmeister, Ph.D...
New Discovery May Aid In Creation Of Therapies For Visual, Hearing ProblemsIt's safe to say that cilia, the hairlike appendages jutting out from the smooth surfaces of most mammalian cells, have long been misunderstood - underestimated, even. Not to be confused with their whiplike cousins flagella, which propel sperm, one type of cilia has been known to serve as microscopic conveyor belts. (Picture cilia reaching up like concertgoers supporting a crowd-surfer...
Breakthrough Towards Drug For Hearing LossResearch funded by hearing loss charity RNID has discovered a drug which repairs hearing after damage caused by loud noise. Researchers at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, showed that exposure to loud noise led to hearing loss which was permanent if left untreated. If treated with a compound called 'ADAC' after noise damage, hearing recovered substantially...
New Cochlear Implant Could Improve Outcomes For PatientsMore electrodes and a thinner, more flexible wire inserted further into the inner ear could improve conventional cochlear implants, a team of Medical College of Georgia and Georgia Institute of Technology researchers say. Candidates for cochlear implants - an estimated million in the United States alone - include children and adults with profound deafness in both ears...
Restore Hearing Thanks To New DrugResearchers from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, have discovered that a potent new drug restores hearing after noise-induced hearing loss in rats. The landmark discovery found that injection of an agent called 'ADAC', activates adenosine receptors in cochlear tissues, resulting in recovery of hearing function...
Visual System Interprets Sign LanguagesSpanish sign language is used by over 100,000 people with hearing impairments and is made up of hundreds of signs. CVC-UAB researchers Sergio Escalera, Petia Radeva and Jordi Vitria selected over twenty of these signs to develop a new visual interpretation system which allows deaf people to carry out consultations in the language they commonly use...
Scientists Probe Formation Of Auditory MemoriesNew research uses "noise," sound waves formed from many thousands of completely unpredictable random numbers played as a sound, to probe how the human brain acquires auditory memories. The study, published by Cell Press in the May 27 issue of the journal Neuron, reveals that learning new sounds is quick, robust, and long-lasting, resembling a sudden insight...