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How good ideas become great products: in conversation with three medical innovators

Ever had a great idea for an innovation that would significantly improve your practice, but wondered how to go about developing it? Lucy Dalton interviewed three consultant ENT surgeons-come-successful innovators (one international, one novice and one experienced) who explain what...

Cancer genetics and signalling pathways in ENT – a review and discussion of how this can be applied to rare tumours

Introduction Cancer cases continue to increase worldwide, and­­ head and neck cancer is a major global health issue, with an estimated global burden of over 630,000 new cases and over 350,000 deaths per year [1]. The term ‘head and neck...

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...

Screening: evaluating the outcomes of early intervention

Newborn hearing screening is now the accepted standard of care in several countries, and is becoming increasingly more established worldwide. White [1] reported eight countries screening over 90% of newborns, ten screening between 25-89% of births and a further 54...

Integrating technology into audiological rehabilitation programmes

In the future, the rehabilitation of adults with hearing loss is likely to involve modern information technology. Using the Internet in the audiological rehabilitation process might be a cost-effective way to include additional rehabilitation components by guiding hearing aid users...

Dizziness: confusion, issues and considerations

Douglas L Beck gives his unique take on the difficulties involved in diagnosing dizzy patients and the importance of well-founded research acting as the basis for any diagnosis and treatment decisions. Dizziness. Uh-oh. We really have a very limited understanding...

What’s new in auditory processing?

Auditory processing disorder (APD) has had a controversial history, stemming mainly from lack of scientific rigor and accepted clinical definition. That situation is now changing. Driven by the huge number of people with unaddressed listening difficulties, basic discoveries in neuroscience,...

Tinnitus and music

Marc Fagelson discusses how not just hearing loss, but tinnitus and hyperacusis and impairments to an individual’s ability to process music can adversely affect one’s quality of life, as well as their overall interactions from a societal and personal perspective....

Acoustic shock: definitions and clinical aspects

Acoustic shock, a previously little-known and poorly understood clinical entity, came to the public’s attention in 2019 due to a high-profile legal case of a musician at the Royal Opera House. In this fascinating article, Andrew Parker and William Parker...