Audiology features
Diabetes and hearing loss: a review
As hearing health professionals we often ask, especially in older patients, if they have diabetes; but what is the link? How is it manifested and should it change current practice? Alec Lapira reviews the changing evidence. Early attempts to establish...
Thyroid dysfunction and Meniere’s disease: is there a relationship?
The set of symptoms described as Meniere’s disease may have several causative factors. Timothy Hain and Patthida Maroongroge look for a relationship in the literature between Meniere’s disease and hypothyroidism. Meniere’s disease (MD) affects around two in 1000 people and...
Congenital CMV: investigations and management in the audiology setting
Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is the only cause of congenital sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) for which there is a medical treatment available to prevent further hearing loss. Dr Simone Walter discusses cCMV infection, cCMV-related hearing loss, and how to facilitate their...
Human immunodeficiency virus and hearing impairment
With an estimated 36.7 million individuals living with HIV / AIDS and literature reporting that these conditions contribute to hearing loss, it is surprising that more focus and resources are not employed to tackle this major hearing health concern. Yolandé...
OTC hearing aids
The potential for the deregulation of hearing aid technology, through the Over-The-Counter Act has led to a tremendous amount of opinions and views from all stakeholders in the US. You don’t have to go far on the internet, social media...
Prudent audiology
Introduction In January 2014, Professor Mark Drakeford, Minister for Health and Social Services, defined Prudent Healthcare as, “Healthcare that fits the needs and circumstances of patients and actively avoids wasteful care that is not to the patient’s benefit.” ‘Prudent’ healthcare...
Patient-centred audiological rehabilitation: facilitating and hindering factors for implementation
Introduction Patient-centred care in the health sector is a worldwide concern [1, 2]. Patient-centred rehabilitation is characterised by availability, appropriateness, preference, and timelines [3]. A consensus report by the Institute of Medicine [4] defines a patient-centred approach as ‘providing care...
Semi implantable bone conduction devices: challenges and developments
Bone conduction mechanisms and history of bone conduction aids Bone conduction hearing devices work by stimulating hair cells via the bone conduction hearing pathways. These pathways are less well understood than the air conduction pathways, but recent research has shown...
2014: Are today’s implantable devices better than conventional solutions for patients with conductive or mixed hearing loss?
Patients with conductive or mixed hearing loss become candidates for amplification when reconstructive surgery is not viable. Three common amplification options are conventional acoustic devices, such as behind-the-ear devices (BTEs), (implantable) bone-conduction devices and active middle ear implants. The goal...
Long-term outcomes of children and young people with cochlear implants
Introduction Profound childhood hearing loss has a huge impact on early communication skills, the acquisition of spoken language, and hence on educational attainments and employment prospects. Over the centuries, educators of the deaf attempted to overcome the challenge by using...
Auditory brainstem implant results in adults and children
Background The auditory brainstem implant (ABI) has been developed from cochlear implant (CI) technology and is indicated for people who have anatomical abnormalities of the cochlea or dysfunction of the auditory nerve. The majority of people who have received an...
Music and cochlear implants
Introduction The introduction of multichannel cochlear implants (CIs) in the early 1980s provided children and adults with severe and profound hearing losses with greatly improved speech perception skills. In this paper, however, I am going to focus on an area...
