Defect in Cellular Process May Spur Balance Disorders

Oviedo, Spain — A team of researchers, led by Carlos López-Otín, PhD, at The University of Oviedo has reportedly identified in mice an essential role for the cellular process known as autophagy in inner ear development and balance sensing.

Kenneth Iverson, MD, (left) and Brian McKinnon, MD, have shown that a cochlear implant with more electrodes and a thinner, more flexible wire that can be inserted further into the inner ear may work better for patients.

Photo from Medical College of Georgia.

Potential Drug Treatment Found For Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Auckland, New Zealand — Researchers from the University of Auckland say they have discovered that a potent new drug restores hearing after noise-induced hearing loss occurs in rats. They report that injection of an agent called adenosine amine congener (ADAC) activates adenosine receptors in cochlear tissues, resulting in recovery of hearing function. If proven, the finding could help pave the way for nonsurgical therapies to restore hearing loss after noise-induced injury.

HEARING aids provide many benefits, but they do not restore hearing to normal, and that is a tough lesson to learn for many people who use them.
“Regardless of how good they are, they never match the quality of your hearing at its best,” said William McKenna, a lawyer and former deputy district attorney in Westchester County, N.Y., who has been wearing hearing aids in both ears for nearly 20 years. “Recently my audiologist asked me how good my hearing was on a scale of 1 to 10. I said, 8 ½.”

Children with the surgically implanted hearing aids called cochlear implants rate their quality of life as highly as children with normal hearing, according to one of the first studies that looked at children as well as their parents.