Justin S. Golub's curriculum vitae (CV)
The Brain Effects of Age-Related Hearing Loss
Age-related hearing loss is one of the most common conditions seen in people. Given a long enough life, nearly everyone will be affected. It usually begins around age 60. By 80, about 80% of adults have hearing loss. At the same time, few people do anything about it. Most hearing-impaired adults in the United States and across the world do not use hearing aids. For adults with severe hearing loss, cochlear implant surgery is performed in only a fraction of those who could benefit.
Why? Because until recently, age-related hearing loss (also called presbycusis) was considered an often humorous, but “certainly harmless,” part of aging. New evidence suggests this is not the case. A wealth of publications, from our lab and others, have associated age-related hearing loss with many other problems of aging. This includes cognitive impairment, dementia, depression, and more.
We are interested in the brain effects of age-related hearing loss. Does age-related hearing loss actually cause changes in the brain, as opposed to merely being associated with them? How would these changes happen?
Our team and collaborators are multidisciplinary, including otolaryngologists, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, neuropsychologists, neuroimaging experts, and more. We also have a collaboration with the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health.
Funding is generously provided by the NIH/National Institute on Aging (R01AG075083, K23AG057832, L30AG060513), the Triological Society (Career Development and Clinician-Scientist awards), the Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Scholar Award, and the Columbia VP&S Dean's Research Fellowship.
Endoscopic Ear Surgery
A branch of our lab is interested in endoscopic ear surgery. To offer surgical treatments for hearing loss into later life, it is important for techniques to become less invasive. Our team hosts a yearly surgical training course on this new technique.
