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The importance of hearing aid validation in infants with hearing loss

Hearing aid validation requires that speech discrimination be measured, yet there are no validated methods of measuring speech discrimination in infants and toddlers. Prof Uhler describes two related approaches that are showing promise. Speech discrimination is the gold standard for...

Hearing aid microphone considerations for binaural hearing: When to select natural or aggressive directional microphone technology?

Should I use omni-directional or fixed directionality? Does it make a difference if I’m fitting a unilateral hearing loss? Mark Laureyns discusses the current evidence on directional microphones and provides practical advice on the systems and when to employ them....

Cognition and hearing – you can’t test one with the other!

Cognitive Psychologist, Boaz M Ben-David, provides insights into the import of considering cognitive factors when assessing speech perception ability to maximise intervention success. Failing to do so, he suggests, is “ageist”, a predisposition healthcare professionals must avoid. Cognitive performance is...

Marshall Chasin: the harmony of music and audiology

Marshall Chasin, synonymous with the science of hearing and the art of music, discusses the techniques and technology he has employed over this career... so far. What’s the difference between your practice now and when you first started out? I...

Big data and the future of cochlear implant aftercare

With a million people using cochlear implants worldwide, the time is right for us to harness this vast data for patient benefit. Every day, cochlear implant (CI) processors quietly collect data: how long they’re worn, how often users switch programs...

In conversation with Prof Helge Rask-Andersen: on cell regeneration and treatment of human deafness

Helge Rask-Andersen, head of the inner ear research laboratory at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, has many achievements to his name. He was made an Honorary Member of ENT UK earlier this year. Gerry O’Donoghue caught up with him...

In conversation with John Carlisle: the silent hero shaping medical publication integrity

Have you ever been curious as to what your anaesthetist is getting up to on their laptop during long cases? Me neither, but I always generally assumed they were trading Bitcoin, solving the Riemann hypothesis and buffing their Tinder profile....

Database WG2. The Tinnitus Patient Database in the TINNET COST Action BM1306

Berthold Langguth describes an innovative project that is creating the world’s largest multi-national patient database containing standardised information on tinnitus and medical history, otological examination and psycho-acoustic measures of tinnitus. A challenge for tinnitus treatment and tinnitus research is the...

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....

Aided cortical assessment: uses in a paediatric hearing implant centre

When can an aided cortical assessment help decision making in a child’s hearing journey? In this article, the author demonstrates the application using an enlightening case study approach. A device, be it a conventional hearing aid or hearing implant, ideally,...