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Developmental stuttering: a speech-motor impairment with sensory aspects

In treating patients who stutter, understanding the effects of sensory input (i.e. auditory input) can help to direct therapeutic approaches. Sensory processing has been identified as a contributory factor in several diagnoses, notably autism and ADHD [1], however it has...

Intratympanic treatments for subjective idiopathic tinnitus

Direct application of medication into the ear is long established, going back as far as written records. In the modern era, greater understanding of aural anatomy revealed that drugs instilled in the middle ear could potentially diffuse into the cochlea...

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...

Audiological and psychological consequences of single-sided deafness

The loss of sound input from one ear has a significant impact on our perception of our acoustic environment. This impact is compounded in adverse listening conditions. Rachel Knappett’s article explores the audiological impact of this hearing loss and the...

Conspiring together: tinnitus and hearing loss

In this special feature, Nic Wray of the British Tinnitus Association and Zheng Yen Ng of The Ear Foundation present the results of their report into managing tinnitus for people with hearing loss. In September 2015, the British Tinnitus Association...

Military noise induced hearing loss and the Lost Voices report: the evolution of earshot

Brigadier Robin Garnett gives us a snapshot of the 2014 Royal British Legion report on hearing problems of Service personnel and veterans. The difficulties in assessing and managing hearing loss are reiterated in this article, with an introduction to how...

Central auditory changes in SNHL

Robert Harrison discusses some of the most obvious ways in which cochlear hearing loss has central consequences. It is convenient to classify hearing loss according to the most obvious site of lesion, for example, conductive, cochlear, retro-cochlear, or central hearing...

World Health Assembly adopts a resolution on hearing loss: a defining moment for the global hearing health community

The World Health Assembly recently adopted a resolution on hearing loss. In this article Shelly Chadha and Alarcos Cieza outline how the resolution came to be and how the World Health Organization and its partners plan to implement it. The...

Measuring audiological outcomes in the paediatric setting

In this article Marlene Bagatto argues that a range of outcome measures and instruments need to be implemented when working with children and families. She demonstartes how these support both clinicians and families. The primary goal of early hearing detection...

TEN testing in paediatric patients

Threshold equalising noise (TEN) testing is used to identify dead regions (DRs) of the cochlear. Alexandra Lusty considers the challenges of using the TEN test in the paediatric population as well as the importance of identifying DRs. Diagnosing dead regions...

Hyperacusis-related distress and comorbid psychiatric illness

Research suggests that over 50% of patients presenting with hyperacusis also present with some form of psychiatric disorder. With this in mind, Dr Aazh outlines what tools clinicians can use to screen for psychological disorders and what path to take...