The Audiologist Informer

A team of researchers from Harvard Medical School and the Eaton-Peabody Laboratory in Boston has identified a drug cocktail composed of small molecules and siRNAs that effectively reprograms fully mature wild-type supporting cells for hair cell-like regeneration in a mouse model with hair cell loss, representing a step forward for hearing restoration via hair-cell regeneration.

This study, which includes 2800 people queried online starting in 2006, is designed to examine associations of hearing ability with psychosocial, work, and health outcomes in working-age adults. Present key findings include age-related hearing loss accelerates after age 50, and smoking is associated with a faster decline in hearing ability. Poorer hearing is associated with increased distress, medical symptoms of unknown origin, depression, and loneliness. Adults with impaired hearing ability are also more likely to be unemployed or unfit for work.

xMEMS Labs has announced the availability of three new solutions for next-generation true wireless (TWS) earphones, in-ear-monitors (IEMs), and digital hearing aids. This includes what it says is the world’s smallest solid-state micro speaker, the most powerful highest output MEMS micro speaker (SPLs of 120 dB at 200 Hz), and the first piezoMEMS, DSP-controllable vent that blends the benefits of open- and closed-fit earbuds and hearing aids.