Well, it might be time to
say goodbye to your fancy hearing aids. For those who love attending concerts
and loud music would know that there is a fear of losing your hearing. This
thought should always be on your mind even if you refuse to admit it. Jessa
Gamble once reported when writing about
a conducted research in The Atlantic’s, that it could be possible for humans to
regenerate the tiny hair cells that enable hearing and prevent hearing loss
overall.
Lack of hearing is a big issue in the human race today. A lot of adults aged over 65 years suffer from hearing loss which a major setback on their day to day health. And you really don’t need to be that old. In 2010, it was reported by CBS News that one in five teens suffered from hearing loss due to very loud music played through their earbuds, headphones and even at concerts. Recent studies have however shown that this problem may no longer exist and it may be reversible
Why is it the case that we
don’t hear, but birds and frogs can? It’s because unlike them, when mammals
have punctured their hearing, they do not grow back the necessary ear hair
cells to actually recognize sound. Furthermore, according to Hypetrak a Dutch
company by the name Audion Therapeutics has announced that they will soon start
human trials on a drug they have tested on mice before, and that has shown
proven success to regenerate inner-ear cells. Audion’s Dr. Albert Edge had made
a remarkable discovery back in 2013 that transformed the way he saw the study.
By utilizing a notch inhibitor, a way to send certain signals to the nerve
cells in specific locations in a conservative manner to receive a reaction, he
found that there were side-effects of curing deafness in dementia patients!
What was specifically found in Edge’s study, as noted by The Atlantic and
Hypetrak, is that with each hair cell,
one would respond “best to a particular frequency of sound” and that they
needed to be placed along the cochlea. By doing this, scientists are given a
way to find exactly where the effects of the drug were occurring for these new
hearing aid cells. In the case of the mice, when they regrew their hair cells,
the pitches and nerve cells better matched to each other in their ears than
before! They recognized the sound!
As of right now, Audion is
collaborating with the pharmaceutical entity, Eli Lilly, to create compounds
that might fit the found mold. They have
received generous donations to contribute to their research funds, but the
struggle is in the fact that there is now a lot of competition out there. It is
wonderful that there are so many people out there trying to solve this case,
though, because without the music that makes us move, our worlds would lead
silent, desolate lives. We wouldn’t be able to sing or dance or play or enjoy
the sounds of music. Could you even imagine?!
Young man wearing a black
suit with headphones.
There are now several large
therapeutic companies hard at work in the labs trying to develop a simple way
to multiply cells that would then turn into ear cells. Whether this discovery
will occur in the near future or not, many are on top of it, and it seems that
yes, indeed it could be a possibility!
For now, still wear your earplugs
if you’re close to the stage because you want to still hear the music, don’t
you?
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