UC Researcher's Work Makes Cover Story of National Publication

Athletes might dream of getting on the cover of Sports Illustrated and rock stars on the cover of Rolling Stone, but it's a pretty big deal in the hearing science community to make the cover of Audiology Today.

"It was a very nice surprise," says Brian Earl, PhD, whose research "Using SiNAPs to Uncover Cochlear Neuropathy" made the cover of Audiology Today's 2015 May/June issue.

Earl is an assistant professor in the University of Cincinnati's College of Allied Health Sciences Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders who has been studying hearing loss for nine years.

In the article he outlines his clinical research on the study of new tests to diagnose the cause of a certain type of hearing loss: hearing difficulty in noisy listening situations.

"Even people without hearing loss often complain that their hearing is diminished  in restaurants or loud social settings and there's not a specific test to uncover the cause of the subtle loss in these situations."

Earl says there is much to be learned from the study of the inner ear "especially about how aging and noise exposure affect the neural connections between the inner ear and the brain."

His research has been conducted in rodent models and is moving forward to human trials.

"Overall, we're trying to translate findings from the laboratory to develop a clinical test that would explain why some individuals have so much difficulty hearing in noisy situations despite passing routine hearing screenings."