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Addressing ear and hearing care through task sharing: the Malawian experience

How can ear and hearing care be addressed in a setting with limited resources? Wakisa Mulwafu, Chris Prescott and Johan Fagan present an innovative model for training ear surgery technicians to perform endoscopic myringoplasty under local anaesthesia on a large...

The effects of leisure noise exposure on young people’s hearing

There is growing concern regarding the effects of leisure noise exposure on young people’s auditory system. Information provided by healthcare professionals should be evidence-based; Hannah Keppler discusses some recent findings about hearing in young people. Excessive noise exposure can lead...

Monstrous craws and horrid butchery: a concise history of thyroid surgery

Prior to the foundation of our speciality, thyroid surgery had a dubious reputation and universally dismal outcomes. Jenny Walton casts a critical eye over this dark chapter. Diseases of the thyroid gland have been referenced in historic texts for well...

The challenges of facemasks for people with hearing loss

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic we have seen an exponential increase in the use of face masks. Guidance around the globe varies on the use of face masks as an effective barrier to the coronavirus. Whereas in pre-covid...

Time to professionalise medical leadership

For a profession proud of its adherence to an evidence base, medicine has been remarkably slow to acknowledge and to act on the evidence which underpins the value of good leadership to patients and the healthcare system. Mr Robert Francis...

Cochlear implant care: putting patients in charge

Should patients take charge of their own cochlear implant care? Helen Cullington presents a compelling case that will provoke discussion in implant centres. Around 1400 people receive a cochlear implant in the UK each year. Patients require lifetime annual follow-up...

Can the audiology clinic benefit from advances in virtual reality?

François Patou discusses how the recent advances in virtual reality technologies can be used to support people living with hearing loss. He outlines some of the novel virtual reality tools that are emerging as resources to support delivery of audiology...

Optical cochlear implants: recent progress toward light-based hearing restoration

Optical cochlear implants combine optogenetics and light-based hardware to overcome limits of electrical CIs, promising sharper frequency resolution and more natural hearing. Cochlear implants (CIs) are among the most successful neuroprosthetic devices in modern medicine, restoring speech perception to hundreds...