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Sound advice for staying healthy: promoting holistic health in adults with hearing loss

Hearing loss is linked to chronic conditions like dementia and heart disease. Dr Maidment explores how integrated healthcare can improve outcomes, highlighting the need for a multidisciplinary approach. Emerging evidence suggests that hearing loss is associated with an increased risk...

Minimum stimulus strategy for the diagnosis of BPPV

Explore the innovative minimum stimulus strategy (MSS) for diagnosing benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), enhancing accuracy while minimising patient discomfort. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a common vestibular disorder where canalolithiasis or cupulolithiasis causes sudden episodes of vertigo, triggered...

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...

Balance and fall prevention in individuals with hearing impairments: clinical insights

Exploring how hearing loss heightens fall risk and how integrated audiologic, vestibular and technological strategies can transform balance care and prevention. Hearing impairment is one of the most common chronic health conditions worldwide, affecting an estimated 466 million people according...

Dispelling myths about audiologic counselling: part two

In the second of a two-part series, Drs Clark and English explore how addressing emotions, embracing silence and managing expectations enhance person-centred care. As discussed in part one of this article [1], when we provide patient education, we must monitor...

Hyperacusis and autism spectrum disorder

Several different auditory deficits have been found to be co-morbidities of ASD. This article reviews literature with respect to the relationship between hyperacusis and ASD. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be characterised as a neurodevelopmental condition that is marked by...

Questionnaires to measure tinnitus severity

The handicap associated with tinnitus can arise from any combination of stress, anxiety, depression, emotional distress, insomnia, difficulties concentrating, or impairments in quality of life or everyday functioning. Measuring such handicap and determining clinical need is therefore far from trivial....

Screening for hearing aid fittings – an approach for primary care

Introduction The communication difficulties related to hearing loss can lead to ‘depression, social withdrawal and problems with employment and access to information sources’ [1]. Furthermore, unmanaged hearing loss is associated with dementia, a poorer quality of life, depression, anxiety and...

The ear-brain connection: the role of cognition in neural speech processing

Audiologists and other hearing healthcare professionals have become increasingly interested in the importance of cognitive function in the assessment and management of hearing loss, especially in light of evidence suggesting a link between hearing loss and cognitive decline in older...

Could social isolation be a factor in the link between hearing loss and dementia?

In 1802, Beethoven wrote to his brothers Carl and Johann about his hearing loss: “You men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause...