New hope for hearing impaired people - a disease that can never be recovered

Hearing loss (deafness) is a disease that can be said to be irreversible unless you are injured in the eardrum.

It is possible that many people do not know, deafness so far is still considered incurable - except cases of deafness due to eardrum perforation. The reason is because our mechanism of sound perception is related to hair cells.

In the cochlea on each side we have about 15,000 hair cells . They have a perceived role, helping us to locate sound waves. When sound waves touch, hair cells vibrate and propagate to the eardrum, and that's how we perceive sound.

Unfortunately, these hair cells are extremely fragile, can be damaged over time or when the sound is too loud. And the most important thing is that hair cells cannot recover, so the damage is permanent.

Hair follicle cells in the ear.

In other words, deafness due to hearing loss is precisely an incurable disease .

But wait! The above statement is no longer true, as scientists have recently found a way to reverse deafness by stimulating hair cells in the cochlea to grow back.

This idea, made by experts from the University of Rochester (USA), comes from the fact that other animals (frogs, birds, fish .) can turn cells around the cochlea into hair follicles to recreate. create listening ability. The mechanism of this process has not been clarified, but it is related to the signal from the emitted proteins.

Scientists have recently found a way to reverse deafness.

"Strangely, animals are difficult to recover," said Dr. Jingyuan Zhang.

The researchers tried to analyze the effect of one of the identified proteins - known as ERBB2 - in the hair cells of newborn mice. The reason for choosing this protein is because it has been previously shown that ERBB2 is related to their ear hair growth process.

Some of the first trials have shown that ERBB2 is indeed involved in hair growth. But mice are like other animals, unable to replicate themselves when their hair falls off. Therefore, experts have tried to genetically alter mice, so that more proteins can be produced.

They also use the virus to stimulate ERBB2 production. As a result, all the trials showed that the mouse grew more ear hair.

Children exposed to cigarette smoke in their womb are twice as likely to be deaf.

"The process of restoring hearing is very complex, requiring a stimulus chain at the cellular level," said Professor Patricia White, research director.

"Sensitive hair cells must be regenerated, and they must also work properly, connecting to the neuronal system."

"This study shows a signaling pathway that stimulates hair growth in the ear, which can be activated by a variety of methods, and thus can restore hearing."

According to White, this study is quite important. In fact, currently in the United States, about 37.5 million people suffer from hearing loss leading to deafness. In the UK, the number is 11 million.

The story of hearing loss is very normal in the elderly. However, the tendency of young people to suffer is also increasing due to the habit of listening to music too loud or infected with viruses, diabetes .

In addition, a study also showed that children exposed to smoke while in the womb were twice as likely to be deaf. The reason is that nicotine affects the chemical signal between brain and hearing.

The study is published in the journal Neuroscience.