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2020 Unmasked - By Paul Howard Surridge

Throughout human existence, metaphorical masks have been worn to conceal emotional and physical imperfections, whether imagined or real. We mask the way we look; we mask the way we feel. We’re vulnerable creatures, psychologically wired to present socially acceptable characteristics...

The future of fall detection

Falls are a major global health burden. According to the World Health Organization, they are the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide, with adults older than 65 at the greatest risk of a fatal fall. For every death...

Pollen forecasting apps: don’t worry, bee happy!

Hay fever sufferers rejoice! Around a fifth of people in the UK self-report to having hay fever (allergic rhinitis). In the majority of cases, this is thought to be a sensitivity to grass pollen. Symptoms may present as nasal congestion,...

Establishing a medical device company: an ENTrepreneur’s experience

In 2004, while I was suturing the mucopericondrial flaps for a septoplasty, I thought to myself, “there must be an easier and faster way of doing this”. Even though I had no formal training in business or medical device development,...

The future of rhinology

Over the last few decades, rhinology has been one of the most dynamic and progressive areas of ENT. Professor Fokkens is perfectly placed to offer insight into the future possibilities that could transform our patients’ care, many of which are...

Benchmarking for innovation in healthcare ­– an approach from 
Down Under and a gap in the 
National Health Service?

Benchmarking is a process of comparison between the performance characteristics of separate, often competing, organisations intended to enable each participant to improve its own performance [1]. Often, in healthcare, benchmarking is carried out by central government departments or regional agencies...

New bone anchored hearing implant reaches clinical milestone

A new implant for bone-conduction hearing, BCI (Bone Conduction Implant), has been developed by Bo Håkansson and his team of researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, both in Gothenburg, Sweden. Unlike most bone-conduction devices used today,...

Take-home tinnitus care – Sound Relief App

Tinnitus is a condition that affects over 300 million people worldwide. Typically it manifests as a ringing or buzzing in the ears and while there is not yet a cure there are many ways for patients to manage their tinnitus....

Could hearing aids help stave off dementia in older adults?

HearCog is a two-year randomised control trial of hearing loss and dementia being undertaken by Ear Science Institute Australia (Ear Science). The study is investigating whether hearing aids can delay or arrest cognitive decline.

A soprano’s demise: a cautionary tale for the thyroid surgeon

Prior to the mid-19th century, thyroid surgery was considered excessively dangerous. The emergence of anaesthetic, antisepsis and improved instrumentation, however, increased its feasibility and frequency in Europe. The unhurried, judiciously antiseptic and haemostatic approach, advocated by Kocher, was popularised and...

My experience of addiction

In this incredibly honest and thought-provoking article, we hear from an anonymous doctor who has struggled with addiction. The nature of addiction is a subject of interest to a broad range of scientific disciplines, from medicine to psychology, psychotherapy and...

Noise monitoring on a smartphone

“The smartphone has more computing power than was used to put the first man on the moon.” Robert Eikelboom discusses the potential of the smartphone as an effective noise monitoring device. Noise exposure and public health Excessive exposure to noise...