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Monstrous craws and horrid butchery: a concise history of thyroid surgery

Prior to the foundation of our speciality, thyroid surgery had a dubious reputation and universally dismal outcomes. Jenny Walton casts a critical eye over this dark chapter. Diseases of the thyroid gland have been referenced in historic texts for well...

Aerosol research and performance

Is singing safe? This was a question asked around the world at the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Natalie Watson and Chris Orton tell us about a rapidly-convened research group that led to profound changes in UK Government...

Reflections on educational gatherings in the COVID era

The COVID pandemic has brought disruption and uncertainty for the organisers of medical conferences. ENT and audiology have always thrived on a healthy exchange of views and the sharing of knowledge across subspecialties and across national boundaries. Ray Clarke asked...

William Hunter’s work on the anatomy of the human ear

The Hunterian Society offers an annual award for an essay and presentation on a subject of relevance to John or William Hunter, or medicine in the 18th Century. This article is based on Emma Stapleton’s 2014 winning essay, which was...

The role of significant others in hearing aid adoption

Presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss, is one of the most common conditions affecting older adults and its prevalence is found to increase with age. Over the years, amplification technology has advanced significantly from analogue to digital signal processing. Despite this,...

The future of inner ear drug delivery

The techniques for delivering drugs to the inner ear system are evolving. Jeffrey Harris considers the myths, the facts and the potential for drug delivery innovations and how they can improve tomorrow’s hearing outcomes. The inner ear’s delicate membranous structure,...

Health related quality of life measures as outcome parameters in middle ear diseases

Surely the only outcome needed for post-surgical ears is a better PTA? Marcus Neudert argues there should be more to it than that. To draw a comprehensive picture of the disease-associated restrictions in patients with chronic otitis media, audiometric outcome...

A binaural detection task that reveals deficits in listeners having ‘slight’ or ‘hidden’ hearing loss

The association of degraded binaural processing in adults with clinically defined ‘slight’ or ‘hidden’ high frequency hearing loss is of great interest to clinicians if it can be measured. Leslie R Bernstein and Constantine Trahiotis share their findings in measurements...

Physiological mechanisms of hyperacusis: an update

Hyperacusis is a heterogeneous and complex clinical entity, and proposals about physiological mechanisms should reflect these issues. Ben Auerbach helps us navigate through present knowledge in this area, and proposes future directions for research. Hyperacusis is a debilitating hearing disorder...

Innovative approaches to treating deafness

Shahar Taiber and Karen Avraham give us a summary of gene therapies for hearing loss, with an overview of limitations and what the future holds. Hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder. The last two decades have seen a...

Why hearing above 8 kHz matters more than you think

This review explores the significance of extended high-frequency hearing loss (above 8 kHz) and why it may be worth doing clinically more frequently. There are many conditions that may hide underneath a normal audiogram, and one of the easiest to...