Research

How much spin is there in medical research journal abstracts?

Details: Published on 25 August 2019

journals

As many as 56% of abstracts in psychology and psychiatry journals contain spin to boost their results, according to a recent study by Oklahoma researchers.

The sex is in the spirals - the cochlea tells the difference in forensics breakthrough

Details: Published on 20 August 2019

forensics

The human cochlea is sex-typed from an early post-natal age - this is the startling and welcome finding of a study that has delivered the first reliable method for sex determination, even in child skeletons and cases with missing or degraded DNA molecules.

Aldosterone hormone fix for age-related hearing loss nears marketplace

Details: Published on 14 August 2019

drugs

If the mice are right, there is a drug fix for age-related hearing loss just around the next bureaucratic corner: the hormone aldosterone, combined with anti-inflammatory medicine, can rejuvenate hearing, says the team behind the development.

US burden of eustachian tube dysfunction higher than estimated, says study

Details: Published on 06 August 2019

ear health

The number of US citizens with eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD), barring those with recent colds, was previously estimated at under 1%, but a new study puts the figure at 4.6%, some 11m people. And the researchers say their figure may underestimate the condition's true prevalence.

Will tickling the ears of over-55s balance their nerves?

Details: Published on 03 August 2019

ageing

It may sound like wily medieval quackery, but researchers from the UK's University of Leeds are suggesting that tickling the ear may open a gateway to the body's metabolic balance and lead to healthier ageing.

Music-making improves language abilities, research suggests

Details: Published on 27 July 2019

music

Audiologists and speech-language therapists should persuade parents of patients to build music activity into their children's programmes, claims a Marseille-based neuroscience researcher.

Gene-editing fix for progressive hearing loss comes closer

Details: Published on 27 July 2019

genetics

Progressive hearing loss is just one of around 5,000 diseases linked to single-gene changes, but geneticists have so far lacked the precision tools to stop us developing these conditions. A genetic cure for this kind of deafness just came a huge step closer.

Children who say hand dryers ‘hurt my ears’ proved right by "real world" study

Details: Published on 09 July 2019

noise

A study in the journal of the Canadian Paediatric Society suggests that hand dryers in public washrooms may be damaging to children's hearing. The published research was carried out by a 13-year-old.

Premature babies neurally lifted by snake-charmer music

Details: Published on 08 July 2019

music

Swiss-based research suggests that a music-enriched environment for very premature babies can help build them brain architecture similar to that of full-term newborns.