Search

Plasticity with cochlear implants: individual factors in the outcomes

Andrej Kral gives us an overview of neuronal plasticity in congenital hearing loss, and discusses why it is core to our clinical interventions in hearing loss and rehabilitation. The brain is born immature and undergoes extensive shaping during early development....

Audiological management of autistic children

Philippa James and Lucy Shiels explain the development of the ‘Autism Listening Clinics’, highlighting a recommended clinical approach for audiologists, the importance of remote microphone technology and sharing some wonderful caregiver experiences. Auditory challenges in autistic children Autism spectrum disorder...

Understanding the NAL-NL3 Prescription System: a new era of personalised hearing aid fitting

The NAL-NL3 system marks a transformative step in hearing aid fitting, shifting from a one-size-fits-most prescription to a modular, patient-centred approach. Developed by the National Acoustic Laboratories, this new system integrates a core audiogram-based prescription with targeted modules to address...

Patient and public involvement in research

One step further from involving patients in setting research priorities is to involve them in the planning and recruitment stages of the subsequent trials and studies. Here, Carl Philpott and Aneeka Degun explain the concept of Patient and Public Involvement...

Tonsillectomy in adolescents

Tonsillectomy is one of the most common operations performed across the developed world. Salil Sood and Ray Clarke discuss the special considerations that apply when performing this procedure on adolescent patients. Tonsillitis in teenagers can be exceptionally painful and disruptive....

Thyroid nodules – time for a rational imaging approach

“The more you know, the harder it is to take decisive action. Once you become informed, you start seeing complexities and shades of gray. You realize that nothing is as clear as it first appears. Ultimately, knowledge is paralyzing.” Calvin,...

The ear-brain connection in cochlear implant users: learning to listen again

While the cochlear implant (CI) has been a tremendous success in restoring hearing to deaf individuals, the implantation outcome still varies across CI users [1]. Some demographic factors, such as duration of deafness, and peripheral factors, such as electrode placement,...

Deaf identity is not cookie cutter shaped: a CI user in a hearing world

Sam Burgess tells us what deaf identity means to her as a service manager in a busy healthcare library, with a cochlear Implant. To begin with, I have been deaf since birth due to congenital rubella. I have not known...

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,...

Speech mapping and the benefits of using in clinical practice

Fitting hearing aids is not simply a case of one size fits all. Nicole da Rocha discusses the benefits of using speech mapping as a verification tool. The verification of hearing aids has become quintessential for best practice. Using either...

Achieving consensus on candidacy for cochlear implantation

The British Cochlear Implant Group’s candidacy working group recently ran a national exercise, working towards a consensus on candidacy for cochlear implantation in the UK. Padraig Kitterick and Debi Vickers were instrumental in this exercise, and in the article below,...