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Exploring teenagers’ access and use of assistive hearing technology

Children require good signal-to-noise ratios for optimum listening and learning. The use of remote microphone technology can be of benefit, yet older children often resist using it. Jennifer Groth reviews the challenges facing older children in the use of remote...

Bringing ear care and hearing services to the hardest to reach: the potential of primary healthcare workers

Can workers from the local community plug the workforce gap in providing ear and hearing care? Bringing ear and hearing care services closer to the community remains a key component of reducing the burden of ear and hearing conditions across...

Promoting human rights of deaf communities in low-resource settings

Stigma and misconceptions about deafness are serious impediments for many deaf people to realise rights and potential in some of the most challenging situations globally. Around 430 million people are estimated to live with moderate or higher levels of hearing...

Barrier and opportunities for hearing care: finding a way forward for all

Ideal models of care for communities can include tailored ear and hearing care interventions. Barriers exist at an individual and societal level to realise the vision of hearing care for all, regardless of country or resource setting. Affordability of hearing...

Measuring the pitch and loudness of tinnitus

Matching the characteristics of tinnitus Many researchers and clinicians have explored the subjective nature of tinnitus by asking people with tinnitus to adjust a sound so that it matches their tinnitus in some way. This can be useful both for...

Selecting and optimising hearing aids for tinnitus benefit: a rough guide

Hearing aids have a relatively long history as tinnitus treatment tools. Saltzman and Ersner reported success in suppressing tinnitus with simple hearing aids in a number of cases as early as 1947 [1]. In an early comprehensive approach to tinnitus...

Why screen for hearing loss in adults?

Introduction Hearing loss affects over 10 million people in the UK – one in six of the population. Of over 50-year-olds 41.7% are estimated to have some form of hearing loss. This rises to 71.1% of over 70-year-olds, over half...

How cognition influences hearing aid use

Introduction Hearing aids are designed to provide amplification for individuals with poor auditory sensitivity. Signal processing algorithms are designed and implemented in hearing aids to further enhance speech intelligibility and to improve listening comfort by attenuating unwanted background noise. Sarampalis...

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...

Workplace culture: observations of audiology in Northern England and Western Australia

Working with a diverse workforce and coping with transition forced me to consider the importance of cultural differences in the workplace. Only by trying to understand these differences can you understand others’ behaviour and what motivates the team. I have...

Remote hearing aid fittings and maintenance – exploring applications in Africa

Introduction Technology and connectivity are allowing audiological services to be provided in novel ways. The field of telehealth, although firmly established over the past two decades, is buoyed by the continued and rapid advances in information and communication technologies. Remote...

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...