The mission of Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is to prevent and cure hearing loss and tinnitus through groundbreaking research and to promote hearing health. HHF is the largest nonprofit funder of hearing and balance research in the U.S. and a leader in driving new innovations and treatments for people with hearing loss, tinnitus, and other hearing disorders.
Recent Updates
“Lacking social connection is as dangerous as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day,” according to a U.S. Surgeon General report.
As a result, increased prefrontal activity may be helpful in improving gating function (automatic filtering), a topic for future research.
Our independent analysis of the clinical trials’ published data yields the following insights on gene therapy for hearing loss from otoferlin variants. The clinical trials provide the first validation of pharmacological treatments for hearing loss.
These details gleaned from this regenerative process in the mouse organoid provides insights into how mammalian supporting cells could be reprogrammed into hair cells.
At the 2024 Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) MidWinter Meeting, held in early February in Anaheim, California, our partner Hyperacusis Research hosted a dinner where several researchers presented their latest findings.
Activity by special neurons called unipolar brush cells reveals that they may introduce delays or increase the length of firing responses, and presumably extend vestibular sensory representations.
Potential solutions include reducing dynamic range, volume reduction when not actively participating in the game, and actively reducing sounds that are known to induce tinnitus, or hearing ringing or buzzing sounds.
I knew how uncomfortable deafness could make people. What I hadn’t expected were some of the reactions my hearing aids got. To me, the hearing aids were life-changing. To me, I was the lucky one.
We have artificially expressed three key hair cell fate promoting proteins in nonsensory cells of adult mice, and found that a significant number of these cells will convert into cells resembling hair cells. This offers a potential strategy for hair cell regeneration.
These findings suggest that the auditory cortex may transmit significant non-auditory signals relevant for learning-related plasticity.