September 2013
Tia Botha, Committee Member Matt Laxton and Guest Speaker Barbara Delangre
Northern Territory
First Implant: Able to
answer back at last
June 2013 ntnews.com.au
Cochlear implant surgery was carried out for
the first time in the Territory at Royal Darwin
Hospital. Territorian Michael Farris can hear
again. The 70-year-old said suffering hearing
loss meant a lot of stress and frustration.
The Palmerston resident was one of the few
people in the Territory with hearing problems
to have a cochlear implant fitted. “It’s a bit
unbelievable really, I didn’t think it (hearing)
would happen again but it has. It will make
things so different, I will be able to hear the TV
and have conversations, and hopefully use a
mobile phone.” His wife Barbara said she had to
previously act as a translator between friends,
family and her husband. Mr Farris said there was
one downside for his partner now that he could
hear again. “She won’t be able to talk back to
me because I can hear her,” he joked.
BBQ Day 5th May
Celene McNeil and Barbara Delangre
talk about Meniere’s disease
Celene McNeil, audiologist in private practice
at Healthy Hearing and Balance at Bondi
Junction together with implant recipient,
Barbara Delangre were guest presenters at
our 5th May BBQ, along with Prof Gibson – a
overview of his talk in on the next page.
Celene explained, with great clarity and
humour, connections between hearing loss,
tinnitus and Meniere’s disease and cleverly
pointed out that we actually hear with our
brain and the ear is just the organ, which
conveys the message to the brain!!
Celene detailed the variety of issues that
can produce tinnitus but stressed above
all that it is in many ways a harmless
noise. The best thing we can do is learn to
understand how it comes about and try to
work with the issue, rather than against it.
Meniere’s Disease, caused by an imbalance
of endolymph fluid in the cochlear and
vestibular system, can be very disabling to
those who experience its sudden attacks of
vertigo and nausea. Hearing loss results as
the Meniere’s progresses and while there is
CICADA Australia www.cicada.org.au
Celene McNeil
no absolute “cure,” there is much research in
progress and the symptoms can be subdued
by dietary considerations, such as eating less
salt, physiotherapy, psychological counselling
and learning to manage the stress.
Barbara Delangre, spoke about the
progression of her Meniere’s disease from the
first vertigo attack in 2006 to the cochlear
implant she received in June 2012. From the
frightening to the hilarious, Barbara related
this interesting phase of her life with a great
sense of humour
CICADA is very grateful to Celene and
Barbara for providing so much practical and
helpful information in this presentation.
A transcript of the talks will be posted on
our website.
Hearing problems in the Territory were
double the national average with two in
1000 people suffering loss. Sydney Cochlear
Implant Centre (SCIC) chief executive Robert
McLeod said “There is a need for permanent
services for the Territory and the need
hasn’t been addressed.” Mr Farris paid for
his treatment out of his private health fund.
The SCIC has donated five cochlear implants,
worth $25,000 each, meaning Territorians
won’t have to travel interstate for surgery.
More than 30 Territorians have received a
cochlear implant and there were 10 more on
a waiting list. Many NT residents needing the
implants were from remote communities.
Michael Farris
State CICADA
Associations
From the
President
New South Wales
CICADA AUSTRALIA INC.
Secretary: Judy Cassell
PO Box 5028
South Turramurra NSW 2074
Email: [email protected]
Queensland
CICADA QUEENSLAND
Secretary: Shirley Edwards
85 Crotona Rd
Capalaba QLD 4157
Ph/Fax: (07) 3824 5003
Email: [email protected]
South Australia
CICADA SOUTH AUSTRALIA
PO Box 415
Angaston SA 5353
Email: [email protected]
Western Australia
CICADA CLUB W.A. INC.
Coordinator: Lynette Fleming
33 Framfield Way
Balga WA 6061
Phone: (08) 9349 7712
Fax: (08) 9349 9763
Northern Territory
CICADA Darwin
Coordinator Chris Blackham-Davison
Email: [email protected]
SMS: 0427 897 170
ACT
CICADA ACT INC
Secretary: Ursula Kajewski
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 6288 7281
SMS: 0427 042 027
Hook Up Online And
Share Your News
Please visit us at www.cicada.org.au
Or our Facebook page Cicada Australia Inc.
Darwin friends now have their own
Facebook page Cicada Northern Territory
If you would prefer to receive this
newsletter by email, please send your
details to [email protected]
Donations over $2 to CICADA are
tax-deductible.
CICADA Australia Inc. thanks Cochlear Ltd.
for supporting the design, printing and
distribution of this newsletter.
Our May BBQ was another great day
with beautiful weather and very
interesting talks on Meniere’s disease
from our guest speakers, Celene McNeil
and Barbara Delangre. See the report in
this issue.
Prof Bill Gibson has helped many people
with Meniere’s disease and with the aid
of a generous benefactor, has recently set
up a Meniere’s research laboratory at the
Brain and Mind Research Institute at Sydney
University. Prof thinks there is more than one
cause of Meniere’s, but a major cause might
be a virus that attacks in the ear and just sits
in the ear and keeps re-activating, causing
further attacks. He says “It would be nice if
we could find some way of treating people
without having to destroy their hearing or
their balance”.
We had a good turnout for our August BBQ
day and the highlight was Jane Opie from the
MEDEL team presenting on Aging and Hearing
Loss, a report on which is in this issue.
Our AGM is coming up in November and I
would like you to consider if you can help
CICADA in some way. We try our best to
provide quality guest speakers and welcome
your suggestions in this regard. Our current
committee enjoy working together to
manage our BBQ’s, Morning Teas, newsletters,
raffles and website. There is much work
behind the scenes to keep these going and
we would certainly welcome new members
to the committee or even offers of help
in other ways. We need stories for our
newsletters and website. John Boyce would
be happy to train an assistant BBQ master.
Getting 100 or more sausages ready on time
and still hot is a good skill to learn! Really,
Friends, Geoffrey Johnstone and
Elaine Beddie at the May BBQ
we would appreciate any practical, hands-on
help at the BBQ days.
Regional groups are growing and these also
need your support if they are to flourish.
There are opportunities to help and support
each other as well as make new friends and
exchange advice and information with other
CI recipients. It doesn’t have to be anything
big and fancy, just a small gathering can be
beneficial to those that attend. The CICADA
Website has a calendar of events and you
can contact [email protected] if
you would like to organise something in your
area and we can post it on the calendar and
help you advertise. Hearing loss and Cochlear
Implants have drawn us together and are
something that we all understand. We all
know that there are times when we need
support and encouragement. Many people
find their hearing loss difficult to accept
and yet there are many ways to manage it.
Sharing your own experience with others
helps to deal with some of the frustrations
that we have in common as well as the many
delights of having a cochlear implant.
Our quilt raffle is going strong and we have
also started our annual Christmas Raffle. Both
will be drawn at the AGM on 3rd November.
A big THANKS to Johnny Boyce, who put
all the ticket books together by hand and
stamped them all. I value his help with this as
well as his cheeky comments and the warm
welcome he extends to newcomers!!
Sue Walters
Getting your cochlear implant working with an FM
From David Lovell and Rachel Tyson
We’ve just posted this: www.slideshare.net/TysonLovell/getting-your-cochlear-implantworking-with-an-fm after a fair amount of frustration in getting our daughter’s FM systems
working with her cochlear implants.
Hope this can be shared more widely in case others are experiencing similar frustrations.
August BBQ day- Jane Opie
Research Audiologist with MEDEL
Oklahoma tornado
miracle: Cochlear
implant found in rubble
of Moore hospital
(examiner.com, May 2013)
“That is a wonderful miracle,” Roberta Tynes,
from Oklahoma City, said. “I don’t know how
they were able to find it. I’ve volunteered
in Moore and I don’t know how they find
anything. There is certainly not much left
of the Moore hospital.” It appears, despite
the efforts of the EF 5 tornado, the cochlear
implant was not damaged in the twister.
Jane Opie, Bill Gibson, Sue Walters
We were privileged to have Jane Opie,
Research Audiologist with MEDEL, who
spoke so clearly in her New York accent
and provided much helpful information on
hearing loss and aging.
Jane pointed out that while hearing loss
and other changes can be a natural part
of aging, HEALTHY aging involves exercise,
good diet, social activities and interests that
enrich our lives and keep our brain active. If
one of our senses becomes depleted and we
have to work harder to do things that used
to be easy, this places a greater load on our
cognitive abilities. For example, with hearing
loss, complex listening situations become
more difficult- it is harder to hear in noise
or to localise sound or to process fast
sounds and more of our resources, more
effort is required.
If you have hearing loss, the best thing you
can do is augment your hearing with hearing
aids or cochlear implants to get as clear a
signal as possible. Then you need to actively
work on your listening. Jane’s advice is that
COMMUNICATION and listening to music
is great brain training –it is also training your
memory. There are opportunities all around
to practise- listening to music on YouTube,
listening to radio. Jane suggests learning to
localise sound by having a family member put
your mobile phone somewhere in the house
and then ringing your number and trying to
find your mobile phone by the ring tone!
The young girl it was intended for had the
implant done at the nearby Norman hospital.
Due to the severe damage on the Moore
Medical Center, what remains of the small
hospital will be demolished.
STENO-“Me TOO” Live
Captioning
There are programs on SoundScape
specifically for listening training where you
can vary the background noise and the
speed of the speech. It’s like exercising your
hearing skills!
SCIC needs you!
There are still many things to learn about
cochlear implantation and this is why SCIC
is involved in multiple research projects.
The new knowledge helps us continuously
improve services to our clients. But to
do this research, we need you! Research
participants are essential to get a better
understanding of cochlear implantation.
If you want to help, send us an email with
your name: [email protected]
Since our presentation on LIVE CAPTIONING
last year we have been fortunate to have the
services of STENO-“Me Too” for most of our
BBQ day presentations.
This really improves access for many people
who don’t quite capture all the words that
the guest presenter is saying. For those who
haven’t seen it in action, the guest speaker’s
words are typed up by the stenocaptioner
and transmitted through a second data
projector onto the wall behind the guest
speaker, so if you miss a word or phrase, or
if you are profoundly deaf and lipreading,
you can still follow the presentation word for
word!! This is fantastic technology in action
and STENO-“Me Too” have also provided full
transcripts of the presentation after the event
so that we can review the material that was
covered by our guest speaker.
Sincerest thanks to STENO-“Me Too” for
providing this great service to our members
and guests.
Norman Heldon and his granddaughter Michelle standing in front of Michelle’s
wonderful painting, that was inspired by her grandfather’s poems.
23rd Annual
General Meeting
of Cicada Australia
Inc.
Sunday 3rd November, 2013,
commencing 11.00am
CICADA’s last function for 2013 is the AGM
to be held on Sunday 3rd November.
A nomination form is included in this
mailout, if you wish to nominate someone
for a position on the Cicada Committee.
Agenda for the AGM
Dates for Cicada Functions at
Gladesville 2013
All are Welcome.
Morning Teas
By the time you receive this edition of the
Buzz, there will only be one morning tea left
for the year on the 3rd October. There are no
morning teas in November, December 2013
or January 2014. They will recommence on
the first Thursday in February next year.
The morning teas continue to be a great
success, with a small band of regulars, plus
many new faces. One of our regulars is
Norman Heldon. In fact Norman’s birthday
fell on our morning tea on the 1st August
and we were planning a special cake for
him, however his family had other activities
Office Bearers and Committee Members
vacate their positions
planned. Norman turned 96. He still catches
the train from Loftus to the city and then
a bus to Gladesville. Norman sometimes
mentions that he hopes he will reach 100. At
the rate he is going, we think it’s very likely.
He still enjoys some gardening and gets out
and about almost every day.
You may remember, the May 2009 issue
of the Buzz featured Norman and his
granddaughter Michelle on the front cover.
Norman and Michelle had been our guests
at the April BBQ of that year, Norman
presenting a recital of poetry, some of which
he had written. It’s such a wonderful photo,
that we will publish it again.
BBQ’s
- Our last function of the Year is the Cicada
AGM, to be held on the 3rd November at
Gladesville. Our guest speakers Leanne
Babic and Dr Isabelle Boisvert will report on
Research Projects at SCIC and how they will
contribute to the CI program. We are looking
forward to a big turnout on the day. A flyer
with details will be sent out closer to the day,
together with dates set for Cicada functions
in 2014.
Information can also be checked on the
Cicada Website www.cicada.org.au or
by contacting the secretary, Judy Cassell
[email protected]
All are welcome.
Dr Angus, grandson of Committee member Chris
Boyce, on duty at a morning tea.
• Welcome to members and guests
(Sue Walters, President)
• Apologies
• Acceptance of the AGM minutes 28th October 2012
• Matters Arising
• President’s Report – Sue Walters
• Treasurers Report - Chris Boyce
• Ratification of Office Bearers and
Committee members for 2013/14
(if nominations received are not in
excess of vacancies available, no election
is required)
Elected President takes the Chair
•
•
•
•
Vote of thanks to committee
New committee and year ahead
Other Business
Close of meeting and welcome to
guest speakers Leanne Babic and
Dr Isabelle Boisvert.
SMS number for Deaf
or Hearing Impaired
NRMA members
For NRMA members who are deaf or hearing
impaired and wish to pay membership
subscription, upgrades, payments and renewals
there is a SMS only number provided.
0437 13 11 11
Please Note. This number is NOT for calling
for breakdown service/roadside assistance
Cicada website
Check the CALENDAR on the Cicada
website regularly for upcoming social
events across Australia and updates
Using Personal FM
Celebrates her 87th Birthday
An Inaugural Member of Cicada
Units- an Assistive
Listening Device (ALD)
Written by Sue Walters
For many years now, Personal FM units have
been widely used by students in schools and
colleges, to deliver a clearer signal to their
hearing aid or cochlear implant. Many adults
have also utilised this technology to hear
better at meetings or social gatherings. It can
be a simple and effective way of cutting out
some background noise and distortion of
sound over a distance. The personal FM system
consists of a transmitter worn by the speaker
and a receiver unit worn by the listener. The
receiver part might plug directly into your
sound processor or it may be a neckloop type
of receiver, worn around the neck and using
the T-switch. If you have a cochlear implant
you could use a personal FM when you go to a
class or a meeting, yet it can be a bit daunting
if you haven’t tried it before. For example, I
started a new yoga class. New teacher, new
location which was a very old church hall with
timber floor and high ceiling, all hard surfaces
which echo a lot. The teacher is very softly
spoken and as he walked around the room, it
was frustrating trying to pick up everything
he was saying, especially when I was upside
down or lying on my back! So I borrowed a
personal FM to see if it would help. At first I
was a bit nervous to ask the teacher to use the
transmitter and explain to him how it worked.
You feel hesitant to make a fuss, however he
was actually very interested and quite happy
to try it with me.
It is amazing how much difference it made.
I could hear every word he said as he walked
around the room- just as if he was speaking
up close to me!! The teacher could tell
immediately that I was following the dialogue
so much better and now I use it every week.
I do hear some interference at times, but
mostly the quality of sound I am receiving is
fantastic. I have tried it in other places, such
as meetings held in a church hall that is all
timber and very noisy. Once the meeting
was over and everyone got up for supper and
started talking, the background noise was
quite loud, but I was still able to filter some
more of that noise by wearing the transmitter
as an external mic around my neck. I spoke
to various people face- to- face and their
voice came through more clearly than the
noise from the crowd. It really is a delight to
feel that I am getting so much more sound
and information just from taking those first
tentative steps.
So if you see someone using something like
this, go and talk to them and perhaps ask
them to demonstrate it to you. We have an
FM unit donated by Printacall that you can try.
Please contact [email protected]
Shirley Celebrating her 87th Birthday
A member of Cicada since its inception in
1990, Shirley Hanke celebrated her 87th
birthday at our BBQ on the 4th August.
Shirley was the 3rd person in NSW to receive
her implant, in 1985, having lost her hearing
at the age of 11 due to an allergic reaction
following a diphtheria injection. Shirley’s
was a complete hearing loss, but this never
daunted her. She completed her schooling,
and then attended business college and
was employed doing clerical work in local
government. She travelled by ship to England,
on her own, for a 15 month working holiday.
Shirley has made a tremendous contribution
to Cicada. She was the long-standing
treasurer of Cicada from 1990 to 2003. She
published the book “The Story of Cicada”,
which documented the beginning of Cicada
in NSW, and also included personal stories
of early implantees. Her late husband Paul,
trained in commercial art, designed the
Cicada Logo. Shirley continues to support
Cicada, travelling from Little Bay by public
transport to most of our BBQs.
Music
Memories from Shirley, who played the
piano prior to hearing loss, prompted by
Torben’s article in the May Buzz.
I will probably make you laugh at my earlier
experiences with music. Paul still had a lot of
records in 1985 and I would practice listening
when he played them. Remember my ears
hadn’t heard sound for 47 years.
Every time I had a night’s muzak I would
need reprogramming as it stimulated my
hearing so much. Some sounds would put
my ear on “edge”. Paul would recognize
the instrument and I would tell Charles
(audiologist Dr Charles Pauka) who loved
music and he would know just where to
adjust the offending sound.
Paul had a very wide knowledge of music
(his sister was an international pianist!) so
introduced me to all types of music though
I have to admit a big brass band was a big
success.
I realized that I could not get the melody tried the piano and the sound changes every
4th key and the electrodes not switched on
were just blank.
Denyse Rockey (speech pathologist working
with the RPA CI program from its early days)
was trying all sorts of experiments on the
85’ers. She made a tape of songs to see if we
could recognize them. I knew a couple like
God Save the Queen. I picked up Waltzing
Matilda but had her puzzled when I said I have
never heard it played before! She couldn’t
believe me but Charles backed me up!
I took the tape and when I brought it back
I told her Paul says a lot of the records are
scratched. Denyse had some ruffled feathers!
Charles overheard the conversation and said
“Yes they are”. It was so funny I remember it
like yesterday.
I would not sing for her. Before I lost my
hearing I used to sing a lot and was in the
school choir, etc. I kept singing after I lost
my hearing until a family member, probably
quoting my dad, said “I sounded like Melba
with a tummy ache”. I never sang again
after that.
Studying the
Viola with
Cochlear Implants
The Illawarra Support Group at a
Picnic Earlier in the Year
May 2013, from the President
and Founder of the Association
of Adult Musicians with Hearing
Loss in the USA
Wendy Cheng with her viola.
NSW Support Groups
Upcoming events in 2013 – Put these dates in your diary
Cicada Illawarra
Sunday 27th October
North Wollongong
Sunday 8th
December
Towradgi Beach
Xmas Party
Our thanks to Sarah Love and all the staff at
SCIC Penrith for their ongoing support that
enables us to provide this service.
Morning teas continue to be held at SCIC
Penrith on the first Tuesday of the month,
starting 10.30 to 12.30 pm.
Best wishes to Bob Ross, who is recovering
from a 2nd knee operation
Rhonda Greene
Coordinator West Sydney Cicada
Please contact Bob Ross for further
information.
Mobile: 0406 599 603
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: 0418 630 466
Email: [email protected]
Newcastle
Central West Hearing
Support Group
Newcastle Cochlear Support Group Afternoon
Tea is on Sunday 8th September at Maryann’s
house at Thornton from 1.30 to 5 p.m.
For details contact MaryAnn or Karen.
We had a small turnout for the latest meet-up
on Sat 20th July. Stella Aung, an audiologist
from Australian Hearing came to speak to
us about the latest hearing aids and other
technology that is commonly used by hearing
aid users. The next meeting is likely to be early
November. Contact Xanthe for information.
Xanthe on [email protected]
Western Sydney
Last picnic date for 2013 is November 17th.
To be held at the Nurragingy Reserve Knox
Road Doonside, starting at 10.30 am, with a
$2 donation. A sausage sizzle will be provided.
Our new monthly morning teas, held at
SCIC in Penrith, have been a success with
our members and their families. We are now
able to provide support and information,
along with a hot cup of tea or coffee, to
people seeking information and support with
cochlear implants, through regular meetings
and contacts.
MaryAnn
[email protected]
OR Mobile 0438 461 659
Karen
[email protected]
OR Mobile: 0402 072 047
Cicada-NT Group
Are you interested in becoming a member of
CICADA–NT Group? Be part of a group that
aims to help hearing impaired Australians
to find the right hearing solution for them
– whether it be hearing aids, implantable
devices or a combination of both.
Chris Blackham-Davidson
[email protected]
Join our facebook page
www.facebook.com/
groups/519831404697696/
I was born with normal hearing, and my
mother said when I was a baby—I was born
in Hsinchu, Taiwan—turning music on the
radio was a surefire way to calm me down
when I cried. All that changed when I turned
two and came down with a high fever. The
drug treatment caused hearing loss in both
ears. I wore a hearing aid in my left ear for
some 30-plus years. After losing residual
hearing due to a viral infection in 1996, I
received a cochlear implant in January 1997.
Then in 2010, I went bilateral.
I fell in love with the sound of bowed strings
in high school, and was a violin student for
many years. But after I received my first
implant, I decided to switch over to viola,
mostly because with my single implant, I
had problems discriminating notes that were
higher than two octaves above middle C on
the violin. I was determined to advance to
the highest level of string playing possible
.To me, the sound of the viola is now more
sonorous and mellow, while the sound of
the violin is a little tinny. Getting a second
implant with a newer processor has provided
a greater ability to discriminate tones at
the higher pitches and has made the task
of learning a third octave a reality. Although
it has been said that cochlear implants are
not good at providing the pitch perception
required to play music, I feel blessed to be
able to hear what I can hear now to enjoy
making music on the viola. If you have a
hearing loss, look for ways to keep music
in your life. It may not be on the same
instrument you played before, and you might
find yourself learning an instrument with
more percussive than melodic qualities. But
keeping the musical connection alive keeps
your brain and kinesthetic skills working. For
me, playing and performing music is truly one
of life’s greatest joys.
Bits and pieces
From Andrew Stewart
of Printacall
Just the Hat for You
“ I have found an Akubra that can be worn
with CIs, there is only one style Akubra that
works, as they are normally very stiff where
the CI is, but they have brought out a specific
style which is soft and pliable. I went to their
factory in Kempsey to try and find one that I
can use, and bought it!”
The Traveller
www.akubra.com.au/stock_products_
lifestyle.html
Looking Cool with
Cochlear Implants:
Skin Its
Mary Shaddox
www.parents-space.com
Elijah wears two cochlear implant processors
and he uses Skin Its to decorate them. These
make his “ears” more cool for him. They also
help us determine which processor goes on
which ear. He has Batman on his left ear and
Superman on his right ear! The Skin Its stick
to the processor really well and lasted him
almost a year. They also wrap around and it
looks like the processor was made that way.
You can choose from ANY design they have,
because they make the Skin It for you after
you order www.skinit.com It takes about
10-14 days to come in. Elijah currently has
the Freedom processors and the Skin Its
are made specifically for the Freedom and
the Nucleus 5 processor made by Cochlear
Americas. I am hoping Elijah can upgrade in
the next two years and by then hopefully he
can get the Nucleus 6 processors that will be
coming out soon. Hopefully, there will be Skin
Its for those too. I am glad companies realize
Technology talk
that kids want to decorate their hearing
devices. I see many kids with bling on their
ears, but girls mostly. There are also Skin Its
for phones, iPads and many other things.
Queensland Budget
funding to provide
hearing implant help
News Mail May 2013
Queensland children and adults awaiting a
cochlear implant will have their procedure
fast-tracked. Health Minister Lawrence
Springborg visited a Brisbane audiology clinic
to meet cochlear recipients and announce
the allocation of an extra $5.8 million from
the 2013-2014 State budget to provide
more implants to patients with moderate to
profound hearing loss. In addition, $2 million
in proceeds from savings achieved through
the corporate restructure of Queensland
Health would be set aside to deliver cochlear
implants to 22 children. It was Springborg’s
brainchild to clear the list of people waiting
for a Cochlear implant. In all, 140 people
will be fitted. He explained that annual
funding for Cochlear implants covered 28
adults and adolescents. People have to wait
approximately three to four years. “That is
just too long to wait for this life-enhancing,
life-changing procedure; we want to make
sure that we can remove that waiting list for
this year so that we are able to get ahead of
the curve next year”.
New South Wales
helps deaf children in
Mumbai with cochlear
implants
Scientists Use Stem
Cells to Grow Mouse
Inner Ears
Healthline News 14 July 2013
and Nature
Although practical applications may be many
years away, the study authors say they’ve
found a way to create critical pieces of the
ear in a three-dimensional aggregate, which
may lead to answers about why people lose
their hearing and perhaps even ways to
restore it. The scientists used embryonic stem
cells from mice to develop sensory epithelia,
which consist of hair cells, supporting cells
and neurons.
Eri Hashino and Karl Koehler of the Stark
Neurosciences Research Institute at the
Indiana University School of Medicine,
created the perfect “cocktail” of chemicals
and proteins needed to make these hardto-grow and fragile tissues. The researchers
prodded the stem cells to differentiate into
hair cells, but they were still astonished to
find complete, complex hair cells growing in
their solution. Hashino said that once hair
cells are destroyed, they are gone forever
and will not naturally regenerate. So their
newfound ability to grow these cells in the
lab is an exciting breakthrough. These hair
cells form important connections to neurons,
allowing them to convert the sound waves
we hear into information our brains can
process. “Now we can study the hair cellneuron connection, which is very important.
It shows us how the ear forms and how
things go wrong,” Koehler said.
(Times of India May 2013)
The government of New South Wales
recently announced a grant of $110,000
AUS for a centre in Mahalaxmi, Mumbai. This
grant will support the Aural Education for
the Hearing Impaired (AURED) centre for 10
children who will receive hearing implants.
Each implant and associated therapy
will cost about $11,000. The voluntary
organisation raises resources to provide costly
cochlear implants to deaf children and runs
rehabilitation programmes for them as well.
Technology talk continued overleaf.
Continued...
Technology talk
Ear Cells Regenerate
Themselves
Medical Daily June 2013
Regeneration of human body parts is not
entirely science fiction. Researchers have
discovered that some cells in the human ear
— called “tip links” — regenerate themselves
in order to keep your hearing sharp.
The tip links are part of the auditory sensing
process — they are connector cells, creating
links between hair cells that are sensitive
enough to ensure sharp hearing. These
connections are easily broken by loud sounds,
as the hair cells get pushed too far back
by the sound and when it goes back to its
normal position, the tip link is no longer there
to connect it to the other hair cells. Tip links
are very fragile, but regenerate within a few
days and sharpen hearing once more. Before
now, little was known about the regeneration
of tip link cells. However, researchers
have now revealed not only the tip link’s
composition, but the mechanism by which
it regenerates. Two proteins, cadherin and
protocadherin, that are sticky and adhesive
keep the hair cells together in lieu of the tip
links themselves. Their adhesive properties
are important — tip links are also adhesive,
and without the actual tip link, the hair cells
need some way to be stuck together. Mature
tip links form at the tips of hair cells, and
these two proteins bind in the same place,
indicating that they are responsible for
maturing into tip link connections. Although
the study is fairly dense with scientific data, it
has clear practical implications: by discovering
how tip links regenerate, researchers aren’t
far from possible clinical trials how people
with hereditary hearing loss, or people who
work in loud industries, such as construction,
could regain their hearing.
Brain compensating for
hearing loss points to
better solutions 28
June 2013 Wellcome Trust, UK
published in Current Biology
Normally, the brain works out where sounds
are coming from by relying on information
from both ears located on opposite sides of
the head, such as differences in volume and
time delay in sounds reaching the two ears.
The shape of the outer ear also helps us to
interpret the location of sounds by filtering
sounds from different directions - so-called
‘spectral cues’. This ability not only helps us
to locate the path of moving objects but also
helps us to separate different sound sources in
noisy environments.
Glue ear, or otitis media, is a relatively
common condition caused by a build-up of
fluid in the middle ear that causes temporary
hearing loss. By age 10, eight out of ten
children will have experienced one or more
episodes of glue ear. It usually resolves
itself, but more severe cases can require
interventions such as the insertion of tubes
(commonly known as grommets) to drain
the fluid and restore hearing. If the loss of
hearing is persistent, however, it can lead to
impairments in later life, even after normal
hearing has returned. These impairments
include ‘lazy ear’, or amblyaudia, which leaves
people struggling to locate sounds or pick
out sounds in noisy environments such as
classrooms or restaurants.
Researchers at the University of Oxford
found that animals raised with temporary
hearing loss in one ear were still able to
localise sounds accurately, by becoming
more dependent on the unchanged spectral
cues from the outer part of the unaffected
ear. When hearing returned to normal, the
animals were just as good at localising sounds
as those who had never experienced hearing
loss. Professor Andrew King explained: “During
periods of hearing loss in one ear - when
the spatial cues provided by comparing the
sounds at each ear are compromised - the
brain becomes much more reliant on the
intact spectral cues that arise from the way
sounds are filtered by the outer ear. But when
hearing is restored, the brain returns to using
information from both ears to work out
where sounds are coming from.”
The results contrast with previous studies that
looked at the effects of enduring hearing loss
- rather than recurring hearing loss - on brain
development. These earlier studies found that
changes in the brain that result from loss of
hearing persisted even when normal hearing
returned. The new findings suggest that
intermittent experience of normal hearing
is important for preserving sensitivity to
those cues and could offer new strategies for
rehabilitating people who have experienced
hearing loss in childhood. In addition, the
finding that spectral cues from the outer ear
are a key source of information during periods
of hearing loss has important implications
for the design of hearing devices, particularly
those that sit behind the ear.
Hearing loss higher
among obese teens
June 2013 www.irishhealth.com and
The Laryngoscope
Hearing loss should also be added to
the growing list of the negative health
consequences of obesity that affect both
children and adults - adding to the impetus
to reduce obesity among people of all ages.
Obese teenagers are more likely to suffer
hearing loss compared to their normalweight peers. US scientists analysed data
from almost 1,500 young people aged
between 12 and 19. A number of issues
were taken into account, such as family
medical history, noise exposure history and
current medical conditions. Obese teenagers
had increased sensorineural hearing loss
across all frequencies. The highest rates
of hearing loss related to low-frequency
sounds. At least 15% of obese teenagers had
this type of hearing loss compared to just
7% of their normal-weight peers. “These
results have several important public health
implications. Because previous research found
that 80% of adolescents with hearing loss
were unaware of having hearing difficulty,
adolescents with obesity should receive
regular hearing screening so they can be
treated appropriately to avoid cognitive and
behavioural issues.