http://hearing-aids-anaheim-ca.com “I’m sorry, your heaHearing Lossring loss is permanent.” For thousands of Americans each year, hearing loss that requires help for better communication becomes a reality. In fact, nearly one out of every ten people has a hearing loss in the United States. The most common hearing loss is damage to the inner ear hair cells, or cilia, that reside in the cochlea.

2. How the
Zebrafish May
Cure Hearing
Loss

3. “I’m sorry, your hearing
loss is permanent.”
For thousands of
Americans each year,
hearing loss that requires
help for better
communication becomes a
reality.

4. The most common hearing loss is
damage to the inner ear hair
cells, or cilia, that reside in the
cochlea. The damage, called
sensorineural hearing loss, can be
caused by many things, including
excessive noise exposure, disease
processes, exposure to
medications and due to the
“accumulation of birthdays.”

5. Why is sensorineural hearing
loss permanent?
Once hair cells die, they cannot
be replaced. They do not regrow
or regenerate. These cells are the
single most important part of the
mechanical working part of the
ear.

6. If the hair cells are
damaged, the
information cannot be
passed on to the
hearing nerve. When
someone has damaged
or missing hair cells, the
result will be
permanent hearing loss.

7. What’s being done about it?
In recent years, a research team
at the University of Washington’s
Merrill Bloedel Research Center
has been working on finding a
way to resolve the problem of
permanent hearing loss

8. The most recent research
involves the zebrafish.
The zebrafish has hair cells
running along the sides of its
body that help sense vibrations
in the water.

9. The vibrations are converted to
electrical information that is then
sent to the brain. Sound familiar?
Unlike human hair cells, though,
the hair cells of the zebrafish are
able to regenerate when
damaged.

10. Researchers hope to find out
how the zebrafish regenerates
their hair cells and use this
information to develop a way for
humans to regenerate damaged
or missing hair cells.