http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/08/28/forget-the-hearing-aid-why-not-regrow-inner-ear-cells/ 80beats is DISCOVER's news aggregator, weaving together the choicest tidbits from the best articles covering the day\'s most compelling topics. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:37:50 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/08/28/forget-the-hearing-aid-why-not-regrow-inner-ear-cells/comment-page-1/#comment-8463 Grant Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:27:58 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/08/28/forget-the-hearing-aid-why-not-regrow-inner-ear-cells/#comment-8463 I'm hopeful this is the beginning of gene therapy on the Human ear. As a child I suffered from sudden deafness in my right ear. Diagnosed as damaged/depleted hair cells in the Cochlea, caused by a viral infection. A Cochlea implant in my case and others similar, (with one normal hearing ear, and one profoundly deaf), would be no good. As a Cochlea implant generates distorted sounds, which the Brain will have difficulty in recognising against the normal hearing ear. If, of course, both Cochlea's were damaged, then Cochea implants would work, as the Brain can be re-tuned to the implants output, normalizing the sound. For the time being there is little that can be done for people like me, with a single non-hearing ear. I’m hopeful this is the beginning of gene therapy on the Human ear. As a child I suffered from sudden deafness in my right ear. Diagnosed as damaged/depleted hair cells in the Cochlea, caused by a viral infection. A Cochlea implant in my case and others similar, (with one normal hearing ear, and one profoundly deaf), would be no good. As a Cochlea implant generates distorted sounds, which the Brain will have difficulty in recognising against the normal hearing ear. If, of course, both Cochlea’s were damaged, then Cochea implants would work, as the Brain can be re-tuned to the implants output, normalizing the sound. For the time being there is little that can be done for people like me, with a single non-hearing ear.

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/08/28/forget-the-hearing-aid-why-not-regrow-inner-ear-cells/comment-page-1/#comment-4400 Damian Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:41:39 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/08/28/forget-the-hearing-aid-why-not-regrow-inner-ear-cells/#comment-4400 You have a knack for finding the cutest mouse photos. You have a knack for finding the cutest mouse photos.

]]> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/08/28/forget-the-hearing-aid-why-not-regrow-inner-ear-cells/comment-page-1/#comment-4389 Jef Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:02:19 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/08/28/forget-the-hearing-aid-why-not-regrow-inner-ear-cells/#comment-4389 This is great news for several years from now. My only concern is that when or if they're able to perform this on humans they might not be able to help people who currently have cochlear implants because to get the electrodes on there they need to remove all of the existing hair cells and adhere the strip of electrodes. If they can only regrow so many or if removing the electrodes or initially removing the hair cells causes any sort of scar tissue it would be quite a hurdle in the least. This is great news for several years from now. My only concern is that when or if they’re able to perform this on humans they might not be able to help people who currently have cochlear implants because to get the electrodes on there they need to remove all of the existing hair cells and adhere the strip of electrodes. If they can only regrow so many or if removing the electrodes or initially removing the hair cells causes any sort of scar tissue it would be quite a hurdle in the least.

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