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Patient experience of necrotising otitis externa

Necrotising otitis externa is increasing in incidence in the UK and becoming a rising burden to patients and health services. Despite a growing body of literature on this condition, we know very little about patient experience of necrotising otitis externa....

Tone deafness and perfect pitch

If you think you are tone deaf, do not despair. Singing tuition should help but it is probably too late to hope to develop perfect pitch. Consultant otolaryngologist and keen musician, Chris Aldren, discusses the complex and fascinating subject of...

Audiological monitoring in ototoxicity - Are we doing enough?

In this article Ghada Al-Malky explores the dichotomy of life-saving, yet hearing loss-causing medication, and questions whether the hearing healthcare community is doing enough to prevent preventable hearing loss. Ototoxicity is the damage to hearing and / or balance functions...

Vocal cord dysfunction and dysfunctional breathing: an evolving clinical paradigm

Patients frequently present to the ENT department with breathing difficulties. The entity of ‘vocal cord dysfunction’ (also known as paradoxical vocal cord movement, inducible laryngeal obstruction, and many other names) is increasingly well recognised. Ravi Thevasagayam gives us an overview....

Neural plasticity and aural rehabilitation

Neural plasticity refers to an ability of the brain and central nervous system to change their structure and function or their reorganisation in response to environmental cues, experience, learning, behaviour, injury and / or diseases and treatments. Neural plasticity is...

What’s new in hearing aid technology? Requisites for successful implementation of eHealth in hearing health care

Like Eeyore in AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories it appears we all will soon have a personal cloud, but unlike Eeyore this will be something to celebrate! The future of hearing aid technology is in the cloud argues Uwe...

Changing perceptions in head and neck cancer management caused by quality of life issues

Sir Felix Semon was an outstanding clinician and exceptional laryngologist. The money raised by donations from his colleagues on his retirement in 1909 was used to establish the London University’s Semon Lecture. Semon’s Obituary in the BMJ, reads: “In Semon's...

Tinnitus treatment device from concept to commercialisation

Innovation in the field of healthcare is fraught with nearly insurmountable challenges. Bringing a novel product to the market requires a new (patentable) idea that can be reduced to practice, manufactured at scale, and can pass all regulatory barriers. In...

In space no-one can hear you scream…or can they?

Plasma, eardrums the size of planets and questioning the wisdom of your school physics teacher! Martin Archer explains the fascinating world of sound and space. Is there sound in space? If you believed the marketing of the movie Alien, or...