Superoxide Produced in the Cochlea Causes Acquired Hearing Loss
Professor Ueyama Takehiko (Biosignal Research Center, Kobe University) and the inner ear research group (Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine) have identified the cell types in the inner ear cochlea*1 responsible for the production of superoxide (Nox3*2-expressing cells). They achieved this by using genetically modified mice that they developed. The researchers discovered that these superoxide-producing cells increase…
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Flies May Provide New Insights Into Development of Treatments for Hearing and Balance Disorders, Say Researchers
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — In a new study published in the journal Development, University of Southern California (USC) Stem Cell scientists describe how adult flies can regenerate sensory hearing cells in their antennae, and how studying flies can provide a new way to understand and develop treatments for people with hearing and balance disorders. An article on…
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Researchers Develop First 3D Sound Frequency Map of Inner Ear Using Advanced X-Ray Technology
Researchers at Uppsala University have created the first 3D map of the hearing nerve showing where the various sound frequencies are captured. Using what is known as synchrotron X-ray imaging, they were able to trace the fine nerve threads and the vibrating auditory organ, the cochlea, and find out exactly how the frequencies of incoming…
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Hearing Health Foundation Appoints Dr. Lisa Goodrich as Scientific Director of Hearing Restoration Project
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK — Hearing Health Foundation (HHF), the largest nonprofit funder of hearing and balance research in the U.S., announced today the appointment of Lisa Goodrich, Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School to the role of Scientific Director of the Hearing Restoration Project (HRP). The HRP is an international consortium of top researchers dedicated…
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Researchers Discover Inner Ear Development in Embryos is Similar to Crystal Formation
An interdisciplinary study headed by Professor David Sprinzak, a researcher from the School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry and Biophysics at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University, showed for the first time that physical forces are involved in the development of the inner ear in mammalian embryos. “We identified a new developmental…
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Researchers Find Molecular ‘Switch’ Controls Ability to Repair Hearing Loss in Mice
In a study in mice, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have found a molecular ”switch” that turns off the animal’s ability to repair damaged cells in the inner ear. The findings shed light on regenerative abilities that are present in many species of birds and fish, but get turned off in mammals, including humans. The study…
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New Research Helps Shed light on How Hearing Happens at the Molecular Level
We hear sounds in part because tiny filaments inside our inner ears help convert voices, music and noises into electrical signals that are sent to our brains for processing. Now, scientists have mapped and simulated those filaments at the atomic level, a discovery that shed lights on how the inner ear works and that could…
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Research Reveals Previously Unknown Population of Brain Cells That Respond to Amplitude Modulation Frequency, Essential to Hearing
Perceiving speech requires quieting certain types of brain cells, report a team of researchers from UConn Health and University of Rochester in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology. Their research reveals a previously unknown population of brain cells, and opens up a new way of understanding how the brain hears. Your brain is never…
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USC Stem Cell Researchers Find Simpler Way to Make Inner Ear Hair Cells
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Scientists from the USC Stem Cell laboratories of Neil Segil and Justin Ichida have found a simpler way to generate the sensory cells of the inner ear. Their approach uses direct reprogramming to produce sensory cells known as “hair cells,” due to their hair-like protrusions that sense sound waves. The study was published this…
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New Study Charts Developmental Map of Inner Ear Sound Sensor in Mice
BETHESDA, MARYLAND — A team of researchers has generated a developmental map of a key sound-sensing structure in the mouse inner ear. Scientists at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their collaborators analyzed data from 30,000 cells from mouse cochlea, the snail-shaped structure…
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