Listen up! Experts call for action on hearing loss-depression link

Oct 2019 Macquarie University

Understanding and addressing the impacts of hearing loss on mental wellbeing has become an urgent issue, write renowned Macquarie University audiologists Professor Cath McMahon and Associate Professor Piers Dawes.

Isolation: Hearing loss has a substantial impact on mental wellbeing.

Globally, one in three adults aged over 60 has hearing loss, increasing to four in five for those over 80. Over the life course, hearing declines through exposure to loud noise, secondary consequences of cardiovascular changes, or general ‘wear-and-tear’. While hearing loss in older adults is often dismissed as a normal consequence of ageing and garners little attention from health professionals, policy-makers or even those who have hearing loss, it has major consequences for ageing well. That is, hearing loss in older age not only affects communication, but has a substantial impact on mental wellbeing. As more and more people are living to older ages, it is critical that these extra years of life are healthy, happy and productive. But hearing loss may lead to greater dependence, restricted social participation and loneliness, leading to an increased likelihood of depression. Helen Keller said that ‘vision loss cuts you off from things, but hearing loss cuts you off from people’.

Read more: Listen up! Experts call for action on hearing loss-depression link

Alarming Youth Hearing Loss Rates

Oct 2019 Scoop.co.nz

Parents are being urged to intervene and limit their children’s use of personal devices – or risk them losing their hearing, following the alarming results of a youth hearing loss screening programme. Initial findings reveal as many as one in three year 9 pupils – 34 per cent – were found to have abnormal hearing. And more than 40 per cent of those with normal hearing in the Listen Up Screening Pilot experienced ringing in their ears – a possible precursor to tinnitus. “This really is becoming a public health issue, and as a nation we need to address youth hearing loss immediately,” Natasha Gallardo, chief executive of the National Foundation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (NFDHH), says. “Once you lose your hearing, you cannot get it back. Yet the propensity for teenagers to put their hearing at risk is truly frightening. Parents, caregivers, teachers, employers – we all have to take urgent steps to help young people see the harm they might be doing.”

Read more: Alarming Youth Hearing Loss Rates

Human gene editing sounds like a big deal. Is it?

Oct 2019 Prospect

These genetic tools pose fraught biological and ethical questions—but how much call for them is there anyway?

Gene editing of human embryos for reproductive purposes—a medical technology often said to promise (or threaten) “designer babies”—is more or less upon us already. It has arrived far sooner than many researchers imagined, and sooner than many wanted. And recent developments show that there may be more just around the corner.

Read more: Human gene editing sounds like a big deal. Is it?

Targeting the Inner Ear - New startups are taking aim at delivering drugs to help treat hearing loss

Oct 2019 Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

There are many types and causes of sensorineural hearing loss, i.e., hearing loss associated with damage to the inner ear, rather than say, a punctured ear drum. You can lose hearing from exposure to loud noises, medications with toxic side effects, or simply having been born with congenital hearing loss. Ageing is a major risk factor too. While two percent of adults ages 45 to 53 have disabling hearing loss, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, that rate jumps to 25% by ages 65 to 75 and fully half of those 75 and older.

Read more: Targeting the Inner Ear - New startups are taking aim at delivering drugs to help treat hearing loss