Health Highlights: Nov. 22, 2008

Nov. 24 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Infrared Light May Hold Clue to 'Clarifying' Cochlear Implants

The cochlear implant, considered a miracle in its ability to give hearing to many deaf people, may be improved by the use of infrared light, according to a report in New Scientist magazine.

Northwestern University scientists discovered that shining infrared light directly on the neurons in the inner ears of deaf guinea pigs helped make the translators of sound -- called frequency maps -- as clear as those in animals with normal hearing.

One of the difficulties with cochlear implants has been that human recipients have frequency maps that make it difficult to discern differences in tonal quality and background noises, and this can limit music appreciation and communicating in public places, the magazine reports.

Dr. Claus-Peter Richter, who headed the research team and presented its findings at a conference in Australia earlier this month, told New Scientist that there are a couple of challenges ahead.

The first is to evaluate the effect of the heat accompanying the light in the infrared process. Richter said his group is already taking a look at what the long-term effects may be from heating the neurons in the inner ear.

And the second project, he said, is to make fiber optics and lasers to target light in the inner ear.

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Getting Bad News May Be Better Than Not Knowing at All, Study Says

No news is good news, right?

Not necessarily, University of Toronto researchers found, according to the New York Times.

In fact, it's better to get bad news than no news at all, the newspaper reports, because not knowing something may increase anxiety and stress.

The researchers hooked up 41 men and women to electrode caps and asked them to perform tasks, while their neural activity was monitored, the Times reports. The highest neuron response was when the computer feedback issued a question mark instead of a plus sign (job well done) or a minus sign (needs improvement). The question mark gave no indication of what was required next.