Hearing Loss and Deafness Alternatives Hearing Regeneration
Wouldn't it be wonderful if our hearing got better instead of worse as we went through life?
Unfortunately, we live in a noisy world and our hearing just gets worse. Loud sharp noises like rock concerts, fire crackers, guns, chainsaws all destroy hair cells which produce hearing (How Loud is Too Loud - Quicktime Movie). Once damaged, we lose our hearing and those haircells are never replaced by nature.
Roughly ten percent of the U.S. population suffers from hearing loss. By the time we become senior citizens about half of us have damaged haircells and if we live long enough we will probably all have hearing problems. But, not all is lost!
Click on the video above for information on Hearing Regeneration.
Hearing Loss The Hearing Regeneration Initiative
Researchers at the University of Washington are leading the investigation into a highly promising approach to restoring lost hearing. Through the Hearing Regeneration Initiative, launched by the UW's Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center, they plan to bring speed the progress of science in solving this difficult problem that affects so many of us as we age. The initiative will bring together leading researchers from many disciplines - with the goal of achieving haircell regeneration in five to ten years.
Rotary International via the International Fellowship of Rotarians Affected by Hearing Loss Rotarians for Hearing Regeneration has undertaken the fundraising efforts. Click Here to view our Windows Media video that explains hearing loss and the regeneration process.
Click on the video above to enjoy a music video about hearing loss and regeneration.
Hearing Loss and Regeneration Birds Do It, Why Can't We?
Dr. Edwin Rubel discovered that birds regenerate their haircells, thereby restoring their hearing. Dr. Rubel's team of research scientists believe this regeneration process can be induced in humans. They have already discovered that some fish also regenerate their hearing and now, there are positive results in studies using mice as well. So, Dr. Rubel asks, "If birds do it, why can't we?"
Actually, fish can do it, too. Read the Wall Street Journal article about zebrafish and Dr. Ed Rubel and how that fish may cure hearing loss . . . with a little help from Dr. Rubel. Click Here to read a research article on the zebrafish.
Michigan researchers have restored hearing in deaf mammals for the first time.
Click Here for the entire article. Hearing regeneration is working!
Hearing Loss? You Can Help
The research initiative needs funding. About ten million dollars is needed. The research center just received an anonymous donation of over 2.75 million dollars. About a third of that is matching funds. Every dollar counts. Donations made to Rotary will directly benefit the research program and our fundraising efforts. Please, donate online. Your donations are tax deductable. The fellowship can also provide programs for local organizations like Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Exchange Club, and others.
How Do We Hear?
Provided by National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Hearing depends on the following series of events that change sound waves in the air into electrical impulses that the auditory (hearing) nerve carries to the brain. The ear has three major parts, described as the outer ear, middle ear, and inner ear.
Sound waves enter the outer ear (pinna) and travel through a narrow tube (ear canal) that leads inside the ear to the eardrum (tympanic membrane). The eardrum vibrates from the incoming sound waves and transmits these vibrations through three tiny bones called the ossicles (the malleus, incus, and stapes) in the middle ear. They amplify the sound and send it through the entrance to the inner ear (oval window) and into the fluid-filled hearing organ (cochlea).
The vibrations create ripples in the fluid that bend projections from tiny hair cells in the cochlea, causing electrical impulses that the auditory nerve, or eighth cranial nerve, sends to the brain.
The brain translates these impulses into what we experience as sound.
Educational Hearing Loss Movies
Noise Induced Hearing Loss . . . Use Protection!
CLICK HERE to download the latest Windows Media player for free.
CLICK HERE to download the latest Quicktime player for free.
How the Ear Functions - Windows Media File - This is a classic educational film on How the Ear Functions. The film is basically good, except hair cells were unknown at that time.
Not sure of how hearing regeneration works into the problem of hearing loss and deafness today? Let us know your thoughts and concerns and basic questions. Hearing loss and regeneration expert Janie Anderson will get back to you with information. Thank you.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if our hearing got better instead of worse as we went through life?
Researchers at the University of Washington are leading the investigation into a highly promising approach to restoring lost hearing. Through the Hearing Regeneration Initiative, launched by the UW's Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center, they plan to bring speed the progress of science in solving this difficult problem that affects so many of us as we age. The initiative will bring together leading researchers from many disciplines - with the goal of achieving haircell regeneration in five to ten years.
