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A few years ago, Russ Apfel was looking for something to do. The semiconductor industry veteran had sold his chip design startup to Silicon Laboratories Inc. in 2005, then he worked for the company before retiring in 2008. Eventually, he started looking at the hearing aid industry. It made sense, because the devices' digital signal processor chips are firmly in Apfel's area of expertise. Apfel was surprised to learn that hearing aids can cost several thousand dollars. "I was appalled," Apfel said. "I couldn't believe how expensive they were." Part of the reason, he said, is that audiologist visits and...

New software 'hearing dummies' are part of cutting-edge research that promises to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of hearing impairments. The work could also be used in the long-term to develop a radical new type of hearing aid that can be customised using the hearing dummy to meet the different needs of individual patients. If the procedures gain clinical acceptance, a device could reach the market within 4 years. The research is being carried out by a team at the University of Essex with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The aim has been to enable...

I believe the hearing is at 1:30 today.It is suppose to be LIVE HERE Does anyone know if it will be televised on TV? Any of the C- SPAN'S?

Issa schedules second Gunrunner, Fast and Furious hearingMatthew Boyle - The Daily Caller Thu Jun 9, 11:37 am ET Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, announced details for the second in what he said will be a series of hearings on Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious. The hearing, set for Wednesday June 15, will examine “reckless decisions” and “tragic outcomes” as a result of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) programs. In Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious, ATF officials who reported to President Barack Obama’s Department of...

California Republican Darrell Issa has called a hearing to look at the possibility that the Department of Justice (DOJ) may be committing obstruction of justice by ignoring a subpoena. On April 1, Issa, House Oversight Committee chairman, subpoenaed all documents pertaining to two Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) programs, Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious. Specifically, Issa was looking for documents and communications “relating to the genesis” of the programs and any information related to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Two AK-47s ATF was tracking through Operation Fast and Furious were found at...

Obama Appeals Court Nominee Hides Pro-Abortion Views in Hearing Washington, DC -- Steve Six was a thorn in the side of pro-life advocates in Kansas wanting to hold the abortion industry there accountable for violating late-term abortion laws, but you wouldn't know that by his responses at a Senate committee hearing. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/25/obama-appeals-court-nominee-hides-pro-abortion-views-in-hearing/

Boeing Labor Fight Takes Over Harkin HearingBy Melanie Trottman May 12, 2011, 4:47 PM ET An effort by Senate Democrats Thursday to highlight the problems of the middle class turned into a partisan debate over the merits of Boeing Co.’s effort to build a non-union airplane factory – a project now under attack by the National Labor Relations Board. Chicago-based Boeing’s general counsel, invited by Republicans to be a witness at a Senate panel led by Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) , portrayed Boeing as a company that could be frustrated in its effort to create good-paying manufacturing jobs by...

Do you suffer from bothersome ringing, hissing or buzzing in your ears? The good news is you don’t have to “just live with it” anymore. On Tuesday, May 17, Sentara is hosting the 5th Annual Audiology Seminar, and this year’s topic is tinnitus. Come learn what causes tinnitus and how it can be treated. A tinnitus technology expert and doctor of Audiology will present information on a breakthrough technology that is a sound therapy tool for relaxation and tinnitus management. What: Community Seminar on Tinnitus When: May 17th at 10:00 am Where: Sentara CarePlex Hospital Conference room C The seminar...

Researchers at The University of Western Australia have shown changes in a part of the brain previously not known to be involved in tinnitus generation. The nerve cell types and the chemistry of the neural circuitry in this part of the brain differ subtly from those other parts of the brain previously thought to be involved. This means the results published in The Journal of Neuroscience could be potentially important for the future development of drug treatments. Tinnitus is a potentially debilitating disorder of hearing which is characterised by the perception of non-existent sounds, usually roaring, hissing or ringing in...

Two hearing impaired men were stabbed in a Hallandale Beach bar Saturday night when another patron mistook their sign language for gang signs. 31-year-old Alfred Stewart, who is deaf and mute, and three others including a bouncer are recovering in hospital from non-fatal wounds suffered at the Ocean's Eleven Sports Lounge and Grill on Federal Highway, where Stewart and his friends were celebrating a birthday. Police say Barbara Lee became angry when she thought Stewart's party, all of whom are deaf, were throwing gang signs at her. The 45-year-old confronted Stewart and his friends and made gang signs to them....

Novel Treatment is Well-Tolerated and Demonstrates Improvement in Debilitating Symptoms of Severe Inner Ear Disorder SAN DIEGO, April 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Otonomy, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics for diseases and disorders of the inner and middle ear, today announced positive data from a Phase 1b study of the company's lead product candidate, OTO-104, in patients with Meniere's disease. Study results showed OTO-104 to be well-tolerated at both doses tested when delivered via a single intratympanic (IT) injection. Additionally, while not powered to demonstrate statistically significant clinical activity, data from the trial showed that patients receiving...

Relief may be on the way for sufferers of tinnitus – the constant ringing in the ears that can drive people to suicide. The way the condition works has been identified by scientists, who now hope to find drug treatments for it. Tinnitus, which can develop following exposure to loud noises, infections or blockages in the ear, is caused by reduced activity of inhibitory neural pathways in the brain’s auditory centre, according to US researchers. About one in ten people suffer from it on a permanent basis. ‘This auditory imbalance leaves the patient hearing a constant ringing, buzzing or other...

<p>Kiss loudman tells us to look after our ear (or ears) and enters the Guinness Book of Records as “World’s Biggest Hypocrite”</p> <p>First there was Ozzy’s medical problem page now we have Kiss member Paul Stanley vlogging for Doctor’s Web…..</p>

Research shows that vibrations in the inner ear continue even after a sound has ended, perhaps serving as a kind of mechanical memory of recent sounds. In addition to contributing to the understanding of the complex process of sound perception, the results may shed light on other fascinating aspects of the auditory system, such as why some gaps between sounds are too brief to be perceived by the human ear. The study is published by Cell Press in the April 5th issue of Biophysical Journal. The inner ear contains a structure called the cochlea that serves as the organ of...

Lincoln Pharmaceuticals (LPL) launches the much awaited Tinnex injection in India, as part of its agreement with Phafag AG, Switzerland to produce the Caroverine molecule for the treatment of Tinnitus commonly known as ringing in the ear. LPL is the sole manufacturer and distributor of Tinnex injection in India and the first company in the country to introduce a cure for Tinnitus. The launch of the Tinnex injection will provide relief to the millions of Indians suffering from this disease. LPL has sold 500 ampoules of Tinnex injection all over India in the last one month. Already 70 per cent...

A grandfather who was tormented by the 'screaming in his ears' as a result of chronic tinnitus shot himself in the head, an inquest heard. Roy Sullivan's medical condition, where sufferers hear a constant ringing in their ear, had been getting progressively worse. The quiet 74-year-old was found with gunshot wounds by his wife at their home in Essex when she returned from her grandson's 14th birthday visit in January. Eileen Sullivan told the hearing: 'Roy was such a peaceful, quiet man. He just couldn't stand the noise. He liked to be quiet. If I had the radio on and...

Research shows Pycnogenol® is effective in relieving tinnitus symptoms and improving inner ear blood flow More than 7 million British people have experienced some degree of tinnitus in their lifetime, according to the RNID[1]. Tinnitus is a hearing condition that causes the constant misperception of sound, including hissing, ringing and rushing noises. A study recently published in Panminerva Medica reveals that Pycnogenol® (pic-noj-en-all), an antioxidant plant extract derived from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, is effective in relieving tinnitus symptoms by improving blood flow in the inner ear. 'mpaired blood flow to the ear is a common...

Los Angeles, Calif: (MMD Newswire) April 11, 2011 -- Dr Murray Grossan, Ear Nose and Throat specialist for tinnitus, will be speaking to the Los Angeles Tinnitus Group on Saturday April 16 at UCLA. The public is invited. He will discuss his tinnitus treatment method based on neuroplasticity, which means that brain functions can be changed for tinnitus relief. Although his book for tinnitus is titled Stressed? Anxiety? Your Cure is in the Mirror, DrGrossan points out that stress is not a cause of tinnitus. Usually tinnitus can come from loud noise exposure, inner ear infections, hypertension or certain drug...

A constant annoying ringing in the ears – called tinnitus - didn't go away when researchers tried zapping patients' heads with magnetic waves in a recent study. The researchers still think magnetic therapy could work, if they can find the right part of the brain to apply it to. "We haven't found the sweet spot yet," said Dr. Jay Piccirillo, the lead author of the study and a professor of ear, nose and throat surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri. Tinnitus is caused by a "phantom" sound, thought to be the result of mis-wired brain...

House panel plans hearing on US intervention in LibyaBy Russell Berman - 03/23/11 11:51 AM ET The House Foreign Affairs Committee is planning a hearing next week on the U.S. intervention in Libya, the first formal congressional inquiry into the five-day-old military campaign. A senior committee aide told The Hill on Wednesday that Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) was eyeing a hearing when Congress returns from recess. The hearing “is still in the planning stages,” the aide said. The inquiry comes amid complaints from lawmakers in both parties about the extent of consultation by the Obama administration with Congress about a...