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Barrier and opportunities for hearing care: finding a way forward for all

Ideal models of care for communities can include tailored ear and hearing care interventions. Barriers exist at an individual and societal level to realise the vision of hearing care for all, regardless of country or resource setting. Affordability of hearing...

Questionnaires to measure tinnitus severity

The handicap associated with tinnitus can arise from any combination of stress, anxiety, depression, emotional distress, insomnia, difficulties concentrating, or impairments in quality of life or everyday functioning. Measuring such handicap and determining clinical need is therefore far from trivial....

Evidence based practice in paediatric audiology

Audiology, like most of the health sciences professions, has been working on integrating evidence-based practice principles since the mid-1990s [1]. Professional organisations and regulatory colleges have produced evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, disseminated them to audiologists and collaborated with practitioners to...

Audiovestibular findings in children with enlarged vestibular aqueduct

Enlarged vestibular aqueduct is reported to affect up to 15% of the paediatric population with sensorineural hearing loss. Devin McCaslin and Bridget Smith provide an up-to-date overview of the mechanisms and clinical symptoms underlying the condition and share some of...

The effects of hormonal changes across menstrual cycle on high frequency auditory thresholds

Physiological changes during the menstrual cycle are well documented; do these changes extend to the auditory system? Lalsa Shilpa Perepa and Rewa Indurkar delve into the literature to find the evidence. Menstrual cycle refers to a series of changes that...

Developing outcome measures for research

There are challenges in developing outcomes measures; Professor Hall presents five top pointers for making rapid progress in developing outcome measures for research purposes. Anyone who has worked clinically with hearing loss will appreciate that every patient’s experience is personal....

The basis of the bargain: outcomes not inputs

There are international drivers focusing our attention on measuring outcomes; Anthony Hogan looks at the data to see how we are currently measuring up. Introduction A global paradigm change is impacting on the provision of disability services. At its heart,...

Hidden hearing loss in humans: cochlear synaptopathy is superseded by cognitive effects when listening to speech in noise

Elizabeth Beach presents an overview of the recent research being undertaken at the National Acoustic Laboratories on speech in noise and its relationship to cochlear synaptopathy. Our team at the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL) has been investigating hidden hearing loss...

Targeted CMV screening and hearing management of children with congenital cytomegalovirus infection

Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection is a common congenital infection and is the leading infectious cause of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in children. Prof Karen Fowler discusses current research and the exciting future of screening for cCMV in newborns. Figure 1....

Enhancing and extending hearing care using Ida Telecare

Tele-audiology has been on our radar for a long while, and evidence shows that its application in clinical practice is beneficial to both patients and clinicians. Cherilee Rutherford discusses the benefits and gives an overview of the freely-available tools developed...