While it's not surprising to spot teens wearing headphones and earbuds, it's also becoming a widespread trend among younger children, a national poll suggests ..read more

Drugs that trap excess zinc in the inner ear could help restore lost hearing or, if administered before an expected loud sound exposure, can protect from hearing loss, study suggests ..read more

A person's hearing can be damaged by loud noise, aging and even certain medications, with little recourse beyond a hearing aid or cochlear implant ..read more

The temporary, repeated hearing loss caused by chronic ear infections can affect language skills years later ..read more

Researchers have uncovered that tinnitus, an incurable persistent ringing or other sounds in the ears, might result from underlying auditory nerve damage that can't be detected on conventional hearing tests. The work builds upon previous research into cochlear synaptopathy or 'hidden hearing loss,' a difficulty hearing in noisy environments despite showing normal results on hearing tests. The researchers hope these new findings into the mechanisms underlying tinnitus could lead to treatment options.  ..read more

Scientists can now pinpoint where someone is looking just by listening to their ears. Following a discovery that the ears emit subtle sounds when the eyes move, a new report finds that decoding the sounds reveals where your eyes are looking. These faint ear sounds may fine-tune perception and could be used to develop innovative hearing tests.   ..read more

As we age, many of us will eventually need hearing aids. In some cases, the reason for this may be a signaling pathway that controls auditory sensory cell function and is downregulated with age ..read more

A cochlear signal, the exact role of which has been unclear since its discovery around 70 years ago, probably gives the brain information on whether the ear is functioning normally or not. These new findings are an important piece of the puzzle in explaining what happens in the ear in hearing impairment caused by harmful noise, and may in the long run contribute to diagnosing noise-induced hearing injury ..read more

A double-blind randomized clinical trial of a device aimed at silencing the phantom sounds of tinnitus has yielded promising results ..read more

There is a correlation between traffic noise and risk of developing tinnitus, researchers have found. They point to a vicious cycle involving stress reactions and sleep disturbance as a potential cause. If you live near a busy road, it may increase your stress levels and affect your sleep. When we are under stress and sleep poorly, we may be at a higher risk of developing tinnitus ..read more