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Current considerations on neural development and hearing loss in young children

The young child’s brain has the ability to change in response to new stimuli, resulting in learning, the foundation of adaptive and intelligent behaviour. For children with hearing loss, a reduction or lack of auditory stimuli can have a ‘lifelong...

The effects of polypharmacy in the elderly

Another pill to cure the ill? Alec Lapira discusses the warning signs of polypharmacy in the elderly population. Polypharmacy in the elderly Polypharmacy – defined as the use of five or more medications – occurs in 20–37% of older people...

Imaging and management of head and neck vascular anomalies

Vascular anomalies are a diffuse spectrum of abnormalities which often involve the head, neck and oral cavity. They are frequently misnamed, often being generically labelled as haemangiomas. This lack of basic understanding can cause confusion leading to a cascade of...

Music and cochlear implants

Introduction The introduction of multichannel cochlear implants (CIs) in the early 1980s provided children and adults with severe and profound hearing losses with greatly improved speech perception skills. In this paper, however, I am going to focus on an area...

Aetiology, investigation and acute management of sudden sensorineural hearing loss

The cause of a single sided sensorineural hearing loss has a wide variety of aetiologies. This review, by Edwin Halliday, looks specifically at the differential diagnostic causes of a sudden sensorineural hearing loss, the relevant investigations and the management should...

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...

2014: Are today’s implantable devices better than conventional solutions for patients with conductive or mixed hearing loss?

Patients with conductive or mixed hearing loss become candidates for amplification when reconstructive surgery is not viable. Three common amplification options are conventional acoustic devices, such as behind-the-ear devices (BTEs), (implantable) bone-conduction devices and active middle ear implants. The goal...