Search

Climate change and global health

As we put together the Editors’ Choice for Jul/Aug 2022 Journal Reviews, news from a meeting of the G7 energy and environment ministers has been shared that the G7 countries are to stop public funding of any overseas fossil fuel...

MRI scanning patients with cochlear implants and auditory brainstem implants

In the last five to six decades, MRI scanning has gone from physics experiments in Nottingham University through to Nobel prize-winning work by Sir Peter Mansfield and Paul Lauterbur, to a ‘routine’ imaging modality with an estimated 60 million MRI...

Can amplification preserve auditory function?

Hearing loss is a noted modifiable risk factor for dementia, and is also associated with depression, decreased quality of life and isolation. Hearing aids are the main intervention for presbycusis and a 2017 Cochrane Review showed that they have a...

Moving towards implanting children below 12 months of age

Newborn hearing screening has ensured that deaf infants are identified soon after birth so that habilitation can begin as early as possible. Cochlear implantation is a key component of early intervention for some children, but it is often not performed...

Complications associated with intra-tympanic steroid injections for sudden sensorineural hearing loss

Around 15,000 people in the UK experience a sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) each year, and in the majority of cases the cause is unknown. Treatment options for idiopathic SSNHL include various modalities of steroid treatments which have known limitations...

Obstructive sleep apnoea in common vestibular disorders

The importance of getting a good night’s sleep is often acknowledged but may be particularly difficult to achieve for those with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). In addition to high blood pressure, increased risk of stroke and depression, balance problems may...

Music training for cochlear implant users

The ability to enjoy music is something that is important to most people and contributes to wellbeing, as well as holding cultural significance. However, the speech signal is generally prioritised for those with cochlear implants (and indeed hearing aids). Improving...

Can we centralise cochlear implant surgery and keep most appointments close to home?

The NHS Five Year Forward View promoted seeing patients closer to home in order to provide better care, cut down on missed appointments and reduce costs. This encouraged the development of ‘hub and spoke’ models of care, but this model...

Well drilling vs. subperiosteal pocket for cochlear implants – comparison of operative time, complications and cost-effectiveness

The choice of method for securing the receiver/stimulator (R/S) package during cochlear implant surgery is usually dependant on several factors, but primarily surgeon preference. The initial recommendation from manufacturers was to drill a bony well (WD technique) and use bony...

Smartphone hearing test

Our Editors’ Choice for this edition reviews an article looking at the use of a smartphone app for hearing screening. We have all had to integrate telehealth into our practice to some extent recently and this paper examines a teleaudiology...

British Skull Base Society Clinical Consensus Document on Management of Head and Neck Paragangliomas (HNPGLs)

All forms of HNPGLs should be managed by a multidisciplinary team (MDT) of core members from skull base otolaryngology, head and neck surgery, clinical genetics, oncology, endocrinology, vascular surgery, radiology and pathology. Extended members include neurosurgery, endocrine surgery, nuclear medicine,...