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The process of medical innovation

You’ve got an amazing idea for a new device. It is going to change how your speciality of surgery is practised. It will lead to better operative results and lower risks to patients – that’s amazing, can I see it?...

The future role of technology in rhinology

Technology is moving our speciality forward very rapidly in all domains, but none more so than in rhinology. David Whitehead looks at current and future trends. How will a surgeon justify their position in a team where artificial intelligence (AI)...

In conversation with Professor Valentina Parma, Head of GCCR

Smell has long been regarded as the Cinderella of the senses, oft neglected by clinicians, the research community and lay public. The Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research looks to change all that. Our roving reporter, Abigail Walker, talks to its...

Detecting cancer margins during robotic head and neck cancer surgery using ambient mass spectrometry

We have known about altered metabolism in cancer cells since Otto Warburg described it 97 years ago. But can we take advantage of this knowledge in curing cancer? Jim Higginson explains the value of smoke generated during cancer surgery. The...

Muscle tension dysphagia: an underdiagnosed problem

In this article, the authors introduce the description of swallowing problems which have been recently attributed to muscle tension dysphagia (MTDg). The authors are clear that this is a diagnosis of exclusion, and it is important to rule out other...

Drawing pictures and telling stories: treating tinnitus in childhood

There is increasing awareness that tinnitus is not restricted to adults. Indeed, the available evidence suggests that some experience of tinnitus in children is fairly common [1]. For many, tinnitus has little effect and requires limited or no intervention. For...

The role of metrics in studies of hearing and cognition

Introduction When perceiving sounds in real-world listening environments, older adults encounter several sources of degradation that can interfere with the perceptual process (Figure 1). Target signals (i.e. the sounds that a listener wants to focus on) have specific acoustic characteristics...

Prudent audiology

Introduction In January 2014, Professor Mark Drakeford, Minister for Health and Social Services, defined Prudent Healthcare as, “Healthcare that fits the needs and circumstances of patients and actively avoids wasteful care that is not to the patient’s benefit.” ‘Prudent’ healthcare...

Patient-centred audiological rehabilitation: facilitating and hindering factors for implementation

Introduction Patient-centred care in the health sector is a worldwide concern [1, 2]. Patient-centred rehabilitation is characterised by availability, appropriateness, preference, and timelines [3]. A consensus report by the Institute of Medicine [4] defines a patient-centred approach as ‘providing care...

Leadership challenges in the world 
of AQP and accreditation – learning from experience

The words ‘choice and competition’, ‘any qualified provider (AQP)’ and ‘accreditation’ have irrevocably become part of audiology jargon in the last two years in England. Commissioners who chose ‘Adult Hearing Aid Services for age-related hearing loss’ have begun the process...