Hearing impairment
hideA hearing impairment or deafness is a full or partial decrease in the ability to detect or understand sounds. Caused by a wide range of biological and environmental factors, loss of hearing can happen to any organism that perceives sound. "Hearing impaired" is often used to refer to those who are deaf, although the term is viewed negatively by members of Deaf culture, who prefer the terms "Deaf" and "Hard of Hearing".
Sound waves vary in amplitude and in frequency. Amplitude is the sound wave's peak pressure variation. Frequency is the number of cycles per second of a sinusoidal component of a sound wave. Loss of the ability to detect some frequencies, or to detect low-amplitude sounds that an organism naturally detects, is a hearing impairment.
For more information about Hearing impairment, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with hearing loss
Got ear plugs? You may want to sport them on the subway and other mass transit
Jun 19, 2009 |
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The U.S. mass transit system, the largest in the world, provides affordable and efficient transportation to more than 33 million riders each weekday. The system is generally considered one of the safest modes of travel. But ...
Ion channel turns ear on its head
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Apr 23, 2009 |
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Scientists thought they had a good model to explain how the inner ear translates vibrations in the air into sounds heard by the brain. Now, based on new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine, it looks like ...
Elusive protein points to mechanism behind hearing loss
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 08, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A serendipitous discovery of deaf zebra fish larvae has helped narrow down the function of an elusive protein necessary for hearing and balance. The work, led by Rockefeller University’s A. ...
Now hear this: Mouse study sheds light on hearing loss in older adults
Nov 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Becoming "hard of hearing" is a standard but unfortunate part of aging: A syndrome called age-related hearing loss affects about 40 percent of people over 65 in the United States, and will afflict an estimated ...
Squeak, squeak -- can you hear me now?
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 09, 2009 |
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What do you get when you cross a mouse with poor hearing and a mouse with even worse hearing? Ironically, a new strain of mice with "golden ears" - mice that have outstanding hearing as they age.
Age-related difficulty recognizing words predicted by brain differences
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
May 12, 2009 |
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Older adults may have difficulty understanding speech because of age-related changes in brain tissue, according to new research in the May 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The study shows that older adults with t ...
Diminuendo -- New mouse model for understanding cause of progressive hearing loss
Apr 27, 2009 |
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The respective microRNA seed region influences the production of sensory hair cells in the inner ear, both in the mouse and in humans. The findings have been published ahead of print in the current online issue of Nature Ge ...
Scaling the wall of deafness
Apr 14, 2009 |
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Despite modern medicine, one in 1,000 American babies are born deaf. The numbers increase markedly with age, with more than 50% of seniors in the United States experiencing some form of hearing loss.
New insights into progressive hearing loss
Apr 12, 2009 |
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In parallel studies in human and mouse, two groups of researchers have come to the same conclusion: that a new kind of gene is associated with progressive hearing loss. The new gene - called a microRNA - is a tiny fragment ...
Study offers clues to beating hearing loss
Mar 04, 2009 |
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Researchers at the University of Leeds have made a significant step forward in understanding the causes of some forms of deafness.
Vitamin supplements may protect against noise-induced hearing loss
Feb 17, 2009 |
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Vitamin supplements can prevent hearing loss in laboratory animals, according to two new studies, bringing investigators one step closer to the development of a pill that could stave off noise-induced and perhaps even age-related ...
Surviving dance club music (noise) with hearing intact
Biology /
Jan 21, 2009 |
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By tweaking a system in the ear that limits how much sound is heard, a global team of researchers has discovered one alteration that shows that the ability of the ear to turn itself down contributes to protecting against ...
New mouse mutant contains clue to progressive hearing loss
Biology /
Oct 31, 2008 |
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Researchers have defined a mutation in the mouse genome that mimics progressive hearing loss in humans. A team from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, working with colleagues in Munich and Padua, found ...
Biophysical method may help to recover hearing
Biology /
Aug 29, 2008 |
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Scientists based in Switzerland and South Africa have created a biophysical methodology that may help to overcome hearing deficits, and potentially remedy even substantial hearing loss. The authors propose a method of retuning ...
Gene linked to a rare form of progressive hearing loss in males is identified
21 hours ago |
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A gene associated with a rare form of progressive deafness in males has been identified by an international team of researchers funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The gene, PRPS1, ...
