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New consensus on treating severe hearing loss welcomed by NUH surgeon
A leading NUH Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeon has welcomed the publication of the world’s first consensus statement which aims to increase access to cochlear implants for adults with severe to profound hearing loss living in the UK.
Professor Gerard O’Donoghue, Consultant Neuro-Otologist based at Queen’s Medical Centre, was among an alliance of 31 hearing experts from surgical and audiology backgrounds and played a leading role in developing the global consensus statement on the use of cochlear implants, along with patient and professional society representatives in over 13 countries.
Professor O’Donoghue said: “This consensus paper is a major step forward in terms of helping adults who need cochlear implants.
“It is our responsibility to improve patient care in the communities we serve. This consensus paper will serve as the catalyst to streamline access to cochlear implants for adult patients with severe to profound hearing loss, who need this life-transforming technology.”
The paper was published online on August 27th in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) - Otolaryngology. Professor O’Donoghue is among the world’s leading ENT surgeons and researchers with a specialist interest in cochlear implantation. He was a pioneer of the technique bringing this to Nottingham and establishing a highly successful implant programme which has restored hearing to many children and adults.
Cochlear implantation is one of the major success stories in hearing research and implant operations have given the gift of hearing to over 200,000 individuals with severe hearing impairments worldwide.
Nottingham has established a reputation among the world-leading centres for research into hearing impairments over many years and the Nottingham Auditory Implant Programme, based at Queen’s Medical Centre, is a nationally recognised centre for auditory implantation.
The programme provides cochlear implants and other hearing implants to hearing impaired children and adults of all ages who do not receive adequate benefit from hearing aids.
In profoundly deaf individuals, cochlear implants can restore the ability to understand speech in a quiet listening environment. The implants are electronic devices designed to provide sound information directly to the patient’s hearing nerve.