Earvangelism

We all know that loud noise can damage hearing. But what if noise isn’t the only workplace risk?

In this episode of Earvangelism, I speak with Associate Professor Adrian Fuente about how organic solvents, i.e. common workplace chemicals, can affect not only the inner ear but also the brain’s auditory pathways. This results in people with “normal” hearing tests who still struggle to understand speech in noise.

An eye-opening look at the hidden connection between the air we breathe and the way we hear.

During Tinnitus Awareness Week, I sat down with a patient who has lived with bilateral tinnitus for 17 years. In this excerpt from our conversation, she shares what tinnitus really sounds like — from high-pitched ringing to Morse-code rhythms — what triggers it, and what she wishes healthcare professionals had told her sooner.

This episode sheds light on the lived experience of tinnitus and highlights the importance of early support, counselling, sound therapy, and informed choices.

Can a bass really trigger diarrhoea?

In this episode of Earvangelism, I explore a patient’s startling experience of needing to rush to the loo every time a specific low-frequency bass played, and nowhere else. We unpack the “brown note,” the science of low-frequency sound, and the powerful connection between the ear, the vagus nerve, and the gut.

Sound doesn’t just enter your ears but with your body too.

Alzheimer’s disease remains one of the hardest conditions to treat, with most therapies offering only modest benefit. In this episode, I explore a fascinating new study published in Brain Communications that investigates whether ultrasound (sound beyond human hearing) can safely change brain activity in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

I break down what focused ultrasound is, why it’s different from drug-based treatments, what the researchers found in humans, and why subtle changes in behaviour and brain dynamics may matter more than headline cognitive scores. This episode highlights sound as not just something we perceive but as a tool to actively shape the brain.

Can blocked ears really cause fainting?

This episode explores a striking clinical case involving recurrent fainting, dizziness, and long-standing earwax impaction (blocked ears). While fainting is usually linked to the heart or brain, this episode sheds light on two lesser-known ear-related mechanisms that could play a role: vestibular disruption and auricular (vagal) syncope.

We unpack how pressure changes in the ear can affect balance, how a branch of the vagus nerve runs through the ear canal, and why chronic stimulation of this pathway may trigger light-headedness or loss of consciousness in some individuals.

In this episode, Priscilla explores the auditory setup behind Meta AI glasses, unpacking how you can hear an AI voice clearly without anything being in your ears. Spoiler: it’s not bone conduction, but near-field, directional air-conducted sound aimed straight at the ear canal.

Beyond the tech, this episode asks a bigger question:What happens when external voices begin to sound as close as our internal dialogue?

We explore how Meta AI glasses blur the line between inner voice and external input, and what that means for attention, silence, and auditory load.

A short, accessible look at hearing, technology, and what it means to live in an increasingly 'audibly integrated' world.

In this episode of Earvangelism, Priscilla explores echoic memory — the brief but brilliant auditory system that holds sound just long enough for meaning to emerge. Through everyday moments like multitasking conversations, hearing your name called, or processing fast speech, this episode reveals why listening isn’t as instantaneous as we think.

Echoic memory sits quietly between sound and understanding, acting as a rolling auditory buffer that allows the brain to stitch syllables into words, separate speech from noise, and make sense of sound after it’s already stopped.

As a new year begins, we all resolve to be better: better partners, friends, colleagues. In this episode of Earvangelism, Priscilla explores one of the most overlooked yet valuable ways to do that: becoming a better listener.

Drawing on 3 simple habits, this short episode looks at how listening well can start through eye contact, fewer interruptions, and ...becoming a trampoline. Small shifts can make a big difference to how people feel heard, valued, and understood.

A gentle invitation to start 2026 by listening differently and offering more value to the people around you.

As the year comes to a close, this short episode of Earvangelism is a moment of reflection — not on what you achieved, but on what quietly supported you all year long.

Your ears helped you learn, filtering and forming new auditory pathways. They protected your attention by tuning out what didn’t matter. And they kept you connected, to the sounds and people that matter most to you.

Here's to savouring the sounds that shaped us in the past year, and our ears that made that possible!

In this episode of the Psychoaudiology Podcast, Priscilla is joined by Cynthia Chan, an experienced speech and language therapist with training in both speech therapy and audiology.

They explore the overlap between hearing, listening, language, and processing — and why being able to hear doesn’t always mean being able to understand. Together, they discuss listening fatigue, auditory processing challenges, assessment limitations, and when referrals between audiologists and speech and language therapists matter most.

The conversation highlights how environment, language complexity, and acoustics shape communication, especially in classrooms, and why closer collaboration between professions can lead to better outcomes for clients.

A thoughtful, interdisciplinary look at what it really means to support listening and communication.