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Drug Allows Deafened Mice to Regrow Inner Ear Hair

Posted by Unknown on from the turn-it-up-to-11 dept.

sciencehabit writes "All you graying, half-deaf Def Leppard fans, listen up. A drug applied to the ears of mice deafened by noise can restore some hearing in the animals. By blocking a key protein, the drug allows sound-sensing cells that are damaged by noise to regrow. The treatment isn't anywhere near ready for use in humans, but the advance at least raises the prospect of restoring hearing to some deafened people."

2 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. Sweet. by geekoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    maybe they can cure tinnitus .

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    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  2. Alternate use. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Could this be used to reverse or at least slow down age-related hearing loss? People are living so much longer than they used to, so we need every medical trick we can devise to lessen the detriments of age.