Search

Sniffing out the evidence – COVID-19 and loss of sense of smell and taste

Louis Pasteur once observed: “In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.” Professor Hopkins was certainly prepared when a few anecdotes of smell problems started to accumulate early in the pandemic’s course. Post-viral olfactory loss is nothing...

Intratympanic steroids in Ménière's disease: what’s the evidence?

The days of drastic surgery for Ménière's disease are long gone. We know that intratympanic injections can deliver high doses of medication to the inner ear with minimal discomfort and minimal risk. But how do we choose from the myriad...

The outer ear in the visual arts

The ear is an exceptional organ, and quite rightly takes its place in the visual arts, as described by Albert Mudry, who takes us on a whistle-stop tour of the appearance of the ear and its depictions in art throughout...

An update on HPV and the vaccination

In recent years, the role of HPV in the development of oropharyngeal cancers has become apparent. Hannah Fox and Vin Paleri contend that while we may not always be able to cure oropharyngeal cancers, vaccination offers our best hope for...

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,...

Extended benefits of cochlear implantation in the elderly

With the challenges presented by an ageing population, Louise Craddock and Charlie Huins describe the benefits of cochlear implants for deaf elderly adults that go beyond improvement of hearing and speech understanding. Introduction People aged over 65 make up 7.4%...

Evidence based practice in paediatric audiology

Audiology, like most of the health sciences professions, has been working on integrating evidence-based practice principles since the mid-1990s [1]. Professional organisations and regulatory colleges have produced evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, disseminated them to audiologists and collaborated with practitioners to...

The mounting burden of hearing loss worldwide: gearing up global collaboration

As audiology and ENT professionals we all have an inkling about the prevalence and impact of hearing loss, but the true gravity of the situation is even greater than previously thought… It may seem hard to believe, but in the...

Hidden hearing loss in humans: cochlear synaptopathy is superseded by cognitive effects when listening to speech in noise

Elizabeth Beach presents an overview of the recent research being undertaken at the National Acoustic Laboratories on speech in noise and its relationship to cochlear synaptopathy. Our team at the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL) has been investigating hidden hearing loss...

Taking a fresh look at otoacoustic emissions

So what has changed in four decades of OAEs? Do we now have all the answers? Have we reached our optimum recording ability? Professor Kemp explains what we know, what we don’t know and what’s to come. In the 40...