News Curated �鶹��ý Channel: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Musical rhythms shown to improve language processing in children with Developmental Language Disorder

Vanderbilt University Medical Center — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 12:05:54 EST

Musical rhythms can help children with speech and language processing difficulties in finding their voice by improving their capacity to repeat sentences they just heard, according to a study led by a Western Sydney University researcher and co-authored by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Scientists discover natural repair process that fixes damaged hearing cells

University of Virginia Health System — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 12:05:47 EST

University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have discovered how the cells that let us hear can repair themselves after being damaged. That important insight could benefit efforts to develop new and better ways to treat and prevent hearing loss.

Monell Center Receives Funding for First-of-its-Kind Conference to Establish Universal Chemosensory Testing

Monell Chemical Senses Center — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 10:05:35 EST

The Monell Chemical Senses Center, with colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital, The Ohio State University, and University of Florida, has received funding from the NIH Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders to organize a visionary conference titled, "Towards Universal Chemosensory Testing." The overarching goal is to involve multiple stakeholders to develop strategies for implementing routine chemosensory testing - smell, taste, and related senses - across the lifespan as a part of US healthcare.

Monell Center Team Discovers Molecular Basis for Alkaline Taste

Monell Chemical Senses Center — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 12:00:00 EST

The sense of taste is among the first to come into contact with food before we ingest it, but whether animals can taste basic or alkaline food and how they do it remained unclear until now. Monell scientists identified a previously unknown chloride ion channel as a taste receptor for alkaline pH.

Researchers identify neurons that "learn" to smell a threat

University of Rochester Medical Center — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 19:30:09 EST

Whether conscious of it or not, when entering a new space, we use our sense of smell to assess whether it is safe or a threat. In fact, for much of the animal kingdom, this ability is necessary for survival and reproduction.

Food for thought: Early Nutrition Shapes the Brain and Influences What We Like to Eat

Stony Brook University — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 14:00:00 EST

A new study by Stony Brook University researchers showed there is indeed a strong relationship between what we eat early in life and food preferences in adults. This relationship depends the effects of our early experience with food has on the brain. The work is published in Science Advances.

NIH-Funded Study Uses AI to Improve Language for Children with Cochlear Implants

Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 11:10:09 EST

A new multicenter study will use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze pre-surgical brain MRI scans to predict individual-level language outcomes in English- and Spanish-learning children up to four years after cochlear implantation. The long-term goal of the research is to customize therapy to maximize children's hearing and language ability after receiving a cochlear implant.

NIH Funds Miller School Researcher's Novel Work to Develop Gene Therapy for Hearing Loss-related Usher Syndrome

University of Miami Health System, Miller School of Medicine — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 14:30:23 EST

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) has awarded Xue Zhong Liu, M.D., Ph.D., Marian and Walter Hotchkiss Endowed Chair in Otolaryngology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, a five-year, $3.5 million R01 research grant to develop a precision medicine approach to treat hearing loss (HL) in Usher syndrome (USH).

Distinct Differences Exist Between Sense of Smell Distortions Associated With COVID-19

Monell Chemical Senses Center — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 16:05:18 EST

Knowing the distinct patterns of demographics, medical history, and quality-of-life issues associated with the smell distortion disorders parosmia and phantosmia may provide insight into the organization and function of the olfactory system, as well as help physicians better treat their patients.

Retinoid Therapy May Improve Vision in People with Rare Genetic Disorder, According to Study in Mice from University of Maryland School of Medicine and NIH

University of Maryland School of Medicine — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 12:25:30 EST

Using data generated from patients and mice with genetic mutation for the disorder Usher syndrome, researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health documented the natural history of vision impairment in patients and identified the cell mechanism behind progressive vision loss.

Mapping the Mouse Brain, and by Extension, the Human Brain Too

UC San Diego Health — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 11:00:00 EST

In a special issue of Nature, UC San Diego researchers further refine the organization of cells within key regions of the mouse brain and the organization of transcriptomic, epigenomic and regulatory factors that provide these brain cells with function and purpose.

Mass General Brigham Laryngology Researcher Awarded $11.9 Million NIH Grant to Lead New Multi-Institutional Center for Neurological Voice Disorders

Massachusetts Eye and Ear — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 09:00:00 EST

Laryngology researcher Kristina Simonyan, MD, PhD, Dr med, of Mass Eye and Ear, has been awarded an $11.9 million P50 Clinical Research Center Grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communicable Disorders to form a new multidisciplinary center across four academic medical institutions that will be committed to conducting research on laryngeal dystonia and voice tremor, two debilitating neurological voice disorders.

University of Miami Health System One of Three Sites Nationally to Test Potentially 'Revolutionary' Cochlear Implant

University of Miami Health System, Miller School of Medicine — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 08:55:10 EST

The University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine will be one of only three sites in the nation to test a potentially revolutionary opto-electrical cochlear implant, which could improve quality of life for millions with hearing loss.

New High-Tech Portal Launched to Speed Hearing Loss Innovations

University of Maryland Medical Center — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 15:15:17 EST

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) launched a new online tool that could more quickly advance medical discoveries to reverse progressive hearing loss. The tool enables easy access to genetic and other molecular data from hundreds of technical research studies involving hearing function and the ear.

Recycling of the Eye's Light Sensors Is Faulty in Progressive Blindness of Older Adults

University of Maryland School of Medicine — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 05:00:00 EST

With the National Eye Institute reporting that about 11 million older adults in the U.S. endure a condition that leads to progressive blindness, known as age-related macular degeneration, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers are starting to understand what goes wrong in the disease, in order to develop new therapies to treat it.

Tug-of-War Receptors Controlling Sour Taste Detection in Fruit Flies Sheds Light on Human Taste Biology

Monell Chemical Senses Center — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 15:35:38 EST

Monell researchers found that flies use two distinct types of gustatory (taste) receptor neurons (GRNs), which are analogous to taste receptor cells in mammals, to discriminate slightly from highly sour foods. One group of GRNs are maximally activated by low acidity, while the other group responds to high acidity.

No Lasting Benefit to Tubes Over Antibiotics for Childhood Ear Infections, Trial Shows

Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh — Wed, 12 May 2021 17:00:00 EST

There is no long-term benefit to surgically placing tubes in a young child's ears to reduce recurrent ear infections, compared with giving oral antibiotics, a randomized trial determined.

Decoding smell

Stowers Institute for Medical Research — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 16:05:54 EST

Since the beginning of the pandemic, a loss of smell has emerged as one of the telltale signs of COVID-19.

New NIH Grant Supports Innovative Approach to Cochlear Implant Surgery

University of Miami Health System, Miller School of Medicine — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 09:15:53 EST

The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine was awarded a new five-year, $2 million grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) for "Application of Mild Therapeutic Hypothermia for Hearing Conservation During Cochlear Implant Surgeries." It follows a pilot grant from the CTSI, a small business innovation grant from the National Institutes of Health, and industry funding to Dr. Suhrud Rajguru, Ph.D., associate professor at the Miller School of Medicine in biomedical engineering and otolaryngology, and his laboratory.

Implant Improves Balance, Movement and Quality of Life for People with Inner Ear Disorder

Johns Hopkins Medicine — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 09:30:59 EST

Getting around without the need to concentrate on every step is something most of us can take for granted because our inner ears drive reflexes that make maintaining balance automatic. However, for about 1.8 million adults worldwide with bilateral vestibular hypofunction (BVH) -- loss of the inner ears' sense of balance -- walking requires constant attention to avoid a fall. Now, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have shown that they can facilitate walking, relieve dizziness and improve quality of life in patients with BVH by surgically implanting a stimulator that electrically bypasses malfunctioning areas of the inner ear and partially restores the sensation of balance.