ear

Scientists investigating regenerative treatments for hearing loss have made an important advance, demonstrating how a single protein can determine whether embryonic hair cells mature into adult hair cells, or follow a different path entirely.

A landmark study is offering evidence to suggest age-related hearing loss is primarily caused by accumulated damage to inner ear sensory hair cells, and hair-regeneration technologies may offer new treatments to restore hearing loss in old age.

Exposure to sustained loud noise often results in hearing loss. But now, biologists are testing drugs they call “chemical earmuffs” in mice, which could prevent hearing loss without affecting the volume or quality of sound.

Scientists have designed a system that allows earbuds to help verify smartphone users' identities.

Researchers have developed a device that assesses ear infections using ultrasound.

Research led by the University of Arizona may have uncovered a new potential treatment target for tinnitus – not the ears but within the brain itself. The study suggests that neuroinflammation is to blame, and could be a new way to fix the problem.

Once we lose the sensory hair cells in the cochlea, they’re gone for good. But now researchers have found a way to regrow them in mice, potentially paving the way for more effective hearing loss treatments in humans.

A team of Swedish researchers have discovered three new types of neurons, which help carry auditory signals from the ear to the brain and may hold the secrets to treating hearing disorders like tinnitus.

According to a recent study from North Carolina's Duke University, moving our eyes causes our eardrums to move, too. The scientists say that the finding may lead to a new understanding of hearing disorders, such as the difficulty that some people have with following a conversation in a crowded room.

​A new study has demonstrated an exciting new gene therapy treatment that stimulates inner ear stem cells into becoming auditory neurons. The technique could potentially reverse hearing loss in many people, but the researchers urge caution as there could be major side effects.

Chronic middle ear disease can lead to infection, pain, hearing loss and perforated eardrums, and may take several rounds of surgery to address the problems. Now an Australian team of researchers has developed the ClearDrum, a silk implant that can repair a damaged eardrum with just one procedure.

We start out with only about 15,000 sound-processing hair cells in each cochlea, and once any of them are gone, they're gone for good. There may now be hope for restoring that lost hearing, however, as scientists have reported a new method of regrowing hair cells in substantial numbers.​