To date, even the best advances in technology have been\nunable to reverse many types of hearing loss. But that may change, thanks to research\nin other animal species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How hearing works<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To understand how we may eventually be able to reverse\nhearing loss, you need to understand how the process works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hearing starts when a sound travels into the ear via\nsoundwaves toward the eardrum. The eardrum vibrates and sends the vibrations to\nthe middle ear, which boosts them and passes them on to the hair-like cells in\nthe cochlea (inner ear), where they are transformed into electrical signals for\nthe brain to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In humans, we develop hearing loss for a number of reasons,\nincluding loud noises, illnesses and age. Sometimes, hearing aids can help.\nSometimes, they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hearing in other\nspecies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In birds and fish, hearing can remain intact because the\nanimals regenerate the sensory hair cells in the inner ear. Mammals don\u2019t have\nthis ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But a new study published in the European Journal of Neuroscience<\/em> shows that researchers have been\ntrying to recreate this process in mammals by using specific receptors, called\nERBB2s, to activate the pathway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the first experiment, scientists tried to target the\nERBB@ receptors in mice with a virus. In the second experiment, they tried to\ngenetically modify the mice in order to activate the ERBB2 receptors. In the\nthird experiment, they used two drugs to produce a response to ERBB2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the researchers were able to regrow the sensory\nhair cells, they admit that hearing is a complex problem that will require more\nwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou have to regenerate sensory hair cells and these cells\nhave to function properly and connect with the necessary network of neurons,\u201d\nexplains researcher Dr. Patricia White. \u201cThis research demonstrates a signaling\npathway that can be activated by different methods and could represent a new\napproach to cochlear regeneration and, ultimately, restoration of hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Knowing that other species can regrow the hairs in their ears to reverse hearing loss, research are hoping to replicate the procedure in humans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[690],"tags":[823,930,931,932],"class_list":["post-13181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wellness","tag-aging","tag-deaf","tag-deafness","tag-hearing-loss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}