Implant Injects DNA Into Ear, Improves Hearing

sciencehabit writes "Many people with profound hearing loss have been helped by devices called cochlear implants, but their hearing is still far from perfect. They often have trouble distinguishing different musical pitches, for example, or hearing a conversation in a noisy room. Now, researchers have found a clever way of using cochlear implants to deliver new genes into the ear — a therapy that, in guinea pigs, dramatically improves hearing (abstract)."

Comments

So the guinea pigus can now

[Anonymous Coward]

distinguish different musical pitches? That's good.

use hearing protection now

[lophophore]

This is an article about "hearing loss." Much hearing loss is preventable.

Use hearing protection now.

Use hearing protection when running your leaf blower, weed whacker, power sander, lawn mower, and especially when making like a war-mongering imperialist at the shooting range. Use hi-fi hearing protection at rock concerts and loud clubs.

Once your hearing is damaged, it is not recoverable, unless you become The Bionic Woman -- and for about 50% of us, that is pretty much completely impossible.

Hearing protection is cheap. I like the Etymotic ER20 for rock concerts. Maybe I look silly wearing them. But... I can still hear after the show. I really don't care if people think I look silly. I've been to some literally deafening rock concerts, and my ears have suffered for it... Now I always bring (and wear!) my ear plugs to shows, And I use hearing protection when running noisy power equipment.

Re:use hearing protection now

[techno-vampire]

I have a classic artillery notch, and there's no way this is going to help me. My hearing loss, btw, isn't from rock concerts, it's a long-term effect of my being exposed to too much outbound shore support back in '72. Yes, when I was topside I had proper hearing protection. Alas, I slept in the forward berthing compartment two decks down and about 50' back from the 5"/54 gun mount, and nobody realized that we should have been using ear plugs down there. One morning, I woke up and found out that there'd been a 40 round bombardment, and I hadn't woken up even once, which will tell you something about how adaptable people are. About the only good thing here is that it's Service Connected, so the VA can't charge me for any hearing-related service, such as giving me hearing aids.

That being said, I think this is a wonderful thing, because I'm sure that there are millions of people out there who can be helped by it.

Hell with hearing better....

[Lumpy]

Cure Tinnitus... more people suffer from that infernal ringing than anything else....

Re:That must be some seriously rich guinea pigs

[umafuckit]

A cochlear implant is not a "hearing aid", which is a microphone and speaker inside the ear canal. A hearing aid is basically a modern ear trumpet, because it drives the cochlear with sound waves via the ear drum. A cochlear implant, on the other hand, is a neural prosthesis. Electrodes are surgically inserted into the cochlear and "sound" is delivered via direct electrical stimulation that drives the auditory sensory neurons. These devices allow people who would otherwise be 100% deaf to hear, assuming that their auditory nerve is intact and the innervation of the cochlear is still present. The problem, however, is that these implants have relatively few electrodes (of the order of 10 or so) and this results in a distorted picture of the world. Here are details with photos of the surgery.

Double standard

[Dancindan84]

Sure, but when I inject DNA into someone's ear I get put on the sex offender registry.