Boston, MA – Hearing loss is a common and under-recognized public health problem that can influence a child’s educational, psychological and social development. However, little data was available to determine whether the prevalence of hearing loss in children has changed over time until recently when researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) determined that hearing loss in adolescents has increased over the past 15 years. The findings are published in the August 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The National Institutes of Health today announced it has awarded approximately $42 million to expand the scope of eight demonstration projects designed to link changes in the human microbiome to health and disease. The funds will also support investigators to develop innovative technologies to improve the identification and characterization of microbial communities of the human microbiome.