Declan Costello, MA, MBBS, FRCS(ORL-HNS),
Consultant Ear,
Nose and Throat Surgeon,
Wexham Park Hospital,
Slough, Berkshire, UK.
TW / X: @Voicedoctor_uk
As you read this, we will just be wrapping up our get-together at BACO in Glasgow. The academic programme, organised by James O’Hara, and the executive committee, led by Helen Cocks, delivered a superb meeting. A full report will appear in the next issue and in an upcoming eNewsletter.
Over in Seoul, the World Congress of Audiology took place in May. We look forward to the next WCA on our very own doorstep in Edinburgh in 2028, hosted by congress president Kevin Munro. We hear from Kevin and colleagues on page 36 of this issue, as they highlight the importance of ensuring the message around hearing loss and dementia is communicated accurately and responsibly.
Laryngology is my own subspecialty, so it is a particular pleasure that we are publishing a supplement for July/August 2026 covering laryngology and snoring. My friend and colleague Natalie Watson has brought together a fascinating selection of articles, so do take a look.
In ENT features, we stick with laryngology for an article by Jacqui Allen, who is a keynote speaker at the IFOS congress in Türkiye in September. Her subject of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a very hot topic at the moment: it seems to be gaining traction in many areas of clinical medicine, so it was very interesting to hear about its use in vocal fold surgery.
With multiple conflicts around the world at the moment, it is difficult for the global media to know which of them is the most important to cover at any given time. The war in the Middle East seems to have pushed the hostilities in Ukraine down the list of journalists’ priorities, so Ian Tickton’s article is a timely reminder of the horrors unfolding in that country, and how clinicians are coping. It makes for sobering reading.
Elsewhere, the main ‘must-read’ is Chris Potter’s article on Luddism. Historically, a ‘Luddite’ was someone who destroyed machinery because of its impact on traditional workers. In more recent times, it has come to mean a more general distrust of modern technology. Chris hones in on artificial intelligence, suggesting (in his usual acerbically hilarious way) that we should adopt it with caution.
Finally, and returning to voice/laryngology, we were very sorry to hear of the death of Adrian Fourcin, who was a huge figure in the field of voice analysis. He passed away in April at the age of 98, and was working right up until a couple of months before he died. Fittingly, his friend and collaborator Julian McGlashan has written his obituary.
