UCL Ear Institute

Last updated

UCL Ear Institute
Established2005
DirectorProf Jonathan Gale
Location
London, United Kingdom
Website UCL Ear Institute

The UCL Ear Institute is an academic department of the Faculty of Brain Sciences of University College London (UCL) located in Gray's Inn Road in the Bloomsbury district of Central London, England, previously next to the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, the UK's largest ear, nose and throat hospital until it closed in 2019. [1] [2]

Contents

Together with the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital, the institute constitutes the largest centre for audiological research in Europe. [3] [ failed verification ] [4] [ failed verification ]

History

In 2000 an £11 million grant from the Wellcome Trust was awarded to UCL to fund the creation of a new Centre for Auditory Research bringing together auditory research scientists and clinicians from across the university. The new centre was linked to the long-standing Institute of Laryngology and Otology (ILO) and its incorporated School of Audiology. [4] In order to provide this cross-faculty, multidisciplinary group with a unifying identity the ILO was disestablished and the UCL Ear Institute created on 1 January 2005. Prof Tony Wright was its first director, followed by Prof David McAlpine from June 2006 and (as interim co-directors) Dr Jennifer Linden and Dr Jonathan Gale from September 2015. [4] In January 2019 Prof Jonathan Gale was appointed as the Director of the Institute. [5]

In December 2006 the results of tests carried out at the institute were published which showed that many children's toys available that Christmas could damage a child's hearing. [6] [7] In February 2007 the Widex Noise Report, a major survey of noise levels in 41 English towns and cities authored by Deepak Prasher of the UCL Ear Institute, was published. [8] [9] In July 2008 the UCL Ear Institute participated in an architectural jelly competition, with the sound of the competing structures being recorded in one of the institute's anechoic chambers. [10]

In March 2010 a team including Professor Martin Birchall, Paolo Macchiarini of the UCL Ear Institute performed the first windpipe transplant using a whole tissue engineered windpipe organ crafted from a patient's own stem cells. [11] [12] In the 5-year follow up study, authors claimed that transplatation was a success and patient had "had a normal social and working life”. In reality, the patient had undergone multiple operation since the transplation, one of which removed the implanted trachea. [13] The fraudulent papers were finally retracted in 2023, after public call for retraction by Karolinska Institutet. [14] Richard Horton, the editor of medical journal The Lancet , in which the papers were published, resisted the retractions for over a decade. [15]

In the same month a team from the institute began a major study to investigate the role of the brain rather than the ear in contributing to hearing difficulties. [16] [17] In August 2010 Aura Satz, the UCL Ear Institute's artist-in-residence, exhibited the results of her work at the institute in 'Location, location, location' at the Jerwood Space gallery in London. [18]

Education

The main portico of University College London UCL Portico Building.jpg
The main portico of University College London

At postgraduate level the institute currently offers the following courses: [19]

Three- and four-year PhD programmes are available in a wide range of basic and clinical disciplines, including genetics, cell and molecular biology, auditory neuroscience and human auditory function. [19]

Library

The UCL Ear Institute and Action on Hearing Loss Libraries are a collaborative venture between UCL, Action on Hearing Loss (RNID) and the NHS. [20] The libraries are based at the Royal National Throat Nose & Ear Hospital and together constitute the largest specialist collection for audiology, Deaf studies, and otorhinolaryngologic medicine in Europe. [21] [22] As well as providing services to staff and students at UCL, and the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the libraries are open to the public and provide reference and enquiry services to anyone conducting relevant research. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audiology</span> Branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders

Audiology is a branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Audiologists treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage. By employing various testing strategies, audiologists aim to determine whether someone has normal sensitivity to sounds. If hearing loss is identified, audiologists determine which portions of hearing are affected, to what degree, and where the lesion causing the hearing loss is found. If an audiologist determines that a hearing loss or vestibular abnormality is present, they will provide recommendations for interventions or rehabilitation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal National Institute for Deaf People</span> UK charitable organization

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), known as Action on Hearing Loss from 2011 to 2020, is a charitable organization working on behalf of the UK's 9 million people who are deaf or have hearing loss.

Auditory neuropathy (AN) is a hearing disorder in which the outer hair cells of the cochlea are present and functional, but sound information is not transmitted sufficiently by the auditory nerve to the brain. The cause may be several dysfunctions of the inner hair cells of the cochlea or spiral ganglion neuron levels. Hearing loss with AN can range from normal hearing sensitivity to profound hearing loss.

Sound Seekers was a British charity which works to improve the lives of deaf children and children with ear diseases in the developing countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. It provided specialist equipment, training and support to some of the poorest countries of the world, where people with the 'hidden disability' of deafness may otherwise not receive the help they need. In 2020, Sound Seekers merged with DeafKidz International, with the combined charity using the DeafKidz International name.

Nuffield Speech and Language Unit was an internationally recognised centre of excellence for providing intensive therapy to children with severe speech and language disorders such as Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia, dysarthria, and oral dyspraxia. The centre was located in Ealing, West London and was administered by the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust in collaboration with Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital. Nuffield specialized in helping children between ages four and seven overcome difficulties caused by dyspraxia and had a capacity for fourteen students. Many of the students would not have succeeded in the mainstream education system. Nuffield was closed in 2011 after the board of trustees decided the under-capacity centre was not financially viable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dafydd Stephens</span> Welsh doctor (1942–2012)

Dafydd Stephens was an audiological physician, holding the post of Honorary Professor of Audiological Medicine at the Cardiff University School of Medicine at Cardiff University. He was also a visiting professor at Swansea University and the University of Bristol. He previously worked as a consultant audiological physician at the Welsh Hearing Institute, University Hospital of Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital</span> Hospital in London, England

The Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital was a health facility on Gray's Inn Road in London. It closed in October 2019 when services transferred to the new Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospitals on Huntley Street, London, WC1E 6DG. The Huntley Street hospital continues to provide specialist ENT, sleeps and allergy services and is part of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Auditory processing disorder (APD), rarely known as King-Kopetzky syndrome or auditory disability with normal hearing (ADN), is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting the way the brain processes sounds. Individuals with APD usually have normal structure and function of the ear, but cannot process the information they hear in the same way as others do, which leads to difficulties in recognizing and interpreting sounds, especially the sounds composing speech. It is thought that these difficulties arise from dysfunction in the central nervous system. This is, in part, essentially a failure of the cocktail party effect found in most people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust</span> NHS hospital trust

The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust based in London, United Kingdom. It comprises Royal Free Hospital, Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital, as well as clinics run by the trust at Edgware Community Hospital, Finchley Memorial Hospital, and North Middlesex University Hospital. On 1 July 2014, the Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust was acquired by Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, making it one of the largest trusts in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastman Dental Hospital</span> Hospital in London, England

The Eastman Dental Hospital was based on Gray's Inn Road until it co-located with the University College London ear, nose, throat, balance and hearing services on Huntley Street, London, as the Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospitals in October 2019. The hospital continues to provide specialist dental treatment as well as ear, nose, throat, hearing, speech and balance services and is part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

UCLPartners is an academic health science centre located in London, England. It is the largest academic health science centre in the world, treats more than 1.5 million patients each year, has a combined annual turnover of around £2 billion and includes around 3,500 scientists, senior researchers and consultants.

University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) is an NHS foundation trust based in London, United Kingdom. It comprises University College Hospital, University College Hospital at Westmoreland Street, the UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre, the Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospitals, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine and the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital.

Paolo Macchiarini is a Swiss-born Italian thoracic surgeon and former regenerative medicine researcher who became known for research fraud and manipulative behavior. He was convicted of research-related crimes in Italy and Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramesh C. Deka</span> Indian otorhinolaryngologist (born 1948)

Ramesh C. Deka is an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist and the former Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, which is globally recognised as the premier medical institute of India. He is one of the pioneers of cochlear implant surgery in India and performed the country's first bilateral cochlear implantation surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UCL Institute of Ophthalmology</span>

The UCL Institute of Ophthalmology is an institute within the Faculty of Brain Sciences of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, United Kingdom. The institute conducts research and post-graduate teaching in the area of ophthalmology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Sadé</span> German-born Israeli otolaryngologist (1925–2020)

Jacob Sadé (3 June 1925 – 16 March 2020) was a German-born Israeli otolaryngologist, also an emeritus professor at the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.

Despite having the largest economy in South America or Central America, Brazil is still considered a developing country due to its low gross domestic product, or GDP, per capita, low living standards, high infant mortality rate and other factors. "With regard to hearing health, the Brazilian government established the national policy for giving attention to hearing health in 2004, in which the Ministry of Health, considering the social magnitude of hearing impairment in the Brazilian population and its consequences, presented the proposal to structure a network of services set up by regions and in hierarchy that aims to be implemented in all federative units of Brazil, with integrated actions to promote ear health, hearing impairment prevention, treatment and rehabilitation organized and managed by the National Health System, Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), in Portuguese," writes Bevilacqua et al. (2010)

Audiology and hearing health professionals in India is made up of Indian healthcare professional that focus on audiological and hearing problems.

Lucy Yardley is a British psychologist and professor of health psychology based at both the University of Bristol and University of Southampton. She is a senior investigator at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and has a continuing role at the University of Southampton as Director of the LifeGuide Research Programme, and the Behavioural Science theme of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debara L. Tucci</span> American otolaryngologist

Debara Lyn Tucci is an American otolaryngologist, studying ear, nose, and throat conditions. She co-founded the Duke Hearing Center and currently serves as a professor of Surgery and Director of the Cochlear Implant Program at Duke University. In September 2019 she became Director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, one of the National Institutes of Health's 27 Institutes and Centers.

References

  1. ↑ "Hospital sites: Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital". Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  2. ↑ "Royal National ENT and Eastman Dental Hospitals". University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  3. ↑ "Britain's best hospitals: A patients' guide". The Independent. 20 March 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 "About Us". UCL Ear Institute. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  5. ↑ UCL (19 December 2017). "History of the Ear Institute". UCL Ear Institute. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  6. ↑ "Christmas toys 'are hearing risk'". BBC News. 12 December 2006. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
  7. ↑ "Ear-splitting presents 'could do permanent damage to children'". The Times. 12 December 2006. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  8. ↑ "Listen up, the traffic noise may damage your health". The Times. 2 February 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  9. ↑ "Noisiest Place In The UK Revealed". Sky News. 2 February 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  10. ↑ "Sound of jelly wobbling recorded for architects' competition". The Telegraph. 2 July 2008. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  11. ↑ "Windpipe transplant success in UK child". BBC News. 19 March 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  12. ↑ "Stem cell windpipe transplant in child is a success for a team including Prof Birchall". UCL Ear Institute. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  13. ↑ Frizzell, Nell (25 October 2016). "Fatal experiments: a maverick surgeon strikes back". The Guardian.
  14. ↑ Oransky, Ivan (27 October 2023). "Lancet retracts two more papers by convicted surgeon Paolo Macchiarini". Retraction Watch.
  15. ↑ Torjesen, Ingrid (7 March 2022). "Lancet will not retract discredited paper on tissue engineered trachea transplants". BMJ. pp. o600. doi:10.1136/bmj.o600.
  16. ↑ "Brain plays role in hearing difficulties". The Independent. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
  17. ↑ "Pardon me? My brain can't quite hear you…". The Scotsman. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  18. ↑ "Art:Galleries: South Bank to Deptford". Time Out. 26 August 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  19. 1 2 "Postgraduate". UCL Ear Institute. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  20. ↑ Gale, Cengage; Miskelly, Matthew (2010). Directory of special libraries and information centers, Volume 1, Part 5. Gale Research Co. p. 2827. ISBN   9781414465500.
  21. 1 2 "The UCL Ear Institute and Action on Hearing Loss Libraries". UCL Library Services. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  22. ↑ "RNID Library". Royal National Institute for Deaf People. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.