Inner Ear Hair Cell Regeneration — Maybe We Can Know More

Will if fix hidden hearing loss? (Those with normal audiograms)
If I'm correct, since hidden hearing loss is a result from problems with the nerves connecting the inner ear to the brain, a solution for this i would rather expect from drugs focused on restoring the nerves (the earlier mentioned http://newsok.com/article/5560970 e.g.).
 
If I'm correct, since hidden hearing loss is a result from problems with the nerves connecting the inner ear to the brain, a solution for this i would rather expect from drugs focused on restoring the nerves (the earlier mentioned http://newsok.com/article/5560970 e.g.).

Thanks Berik but I believe this drug is produced for protecting hearing loss and it may be beneficial just after a noise trauma. That is what I've assumed from reading up on this drug - if that's true then I'm way too late.
 
Well, who's joining me and my arsenal to go to where this pill is being developed to ask them politely for some samplers?? My knives, guns, baseball bats and cochlea can't wait any longer.
 
I believe a good candidate for "hidden hearing loss" is Decibel, because they are looking at repairing the synapses that is damaged before any hair cells?

As somebody with a normal audiogram & unilateral tinnitus...

I have no idea what my hearing is like beyond 8 kHz, however if there is damage there, I hope a hair cell regeneration would benefit me by eliminating tinnitus by restoring any damage done. In fact, my tinnitus is not very high frequency that I would expect (loss of hearing usually corresponds to same tinnitus frequency)

That's why personally I would get one done if it comes to market, obviously I can only hope and speculate whether I would benefit from one at this point. Nevertheless, I'm praying for people worse off with both loss and tinnitus.
 
can't seem to find earlier, but would the procedure of regeneration also be beneficial in case of sudden hearing loss?

Maybe yes but only if the cause and location of sudden hearing loss is well known. Recently a quiet famous french actor got it. No cause was found first but after months of investigations, damages were located near his auditory nerve and it came to the conclusion that the cause was overuse of headphones for several decades, then he refused cochlear implant and uses hearing aid for the moment as long there is no biological cure yet.
 
Thanks Berik but I believe this drug is produced for protecting hearing loss and it may be beneficial just after a noise trauma. That is what I've assumed from reading up on this drug - if that's true then I'm way too late.

It was a serendipitous discovery that as we were testing the pill as a therapy to prevent hearing damage, we discovered that it actually regrew the nerve endings that connect the inner ear to the brain, restoring hearing."
 
Yes, absolutely. The thing is though, that there are loads of things that COULD work for us, and that is what these trials are all about. They are still a little unclear about the exact mechanisms behind tinnitus, but the researchers are slowly but surely making significant steps towards finding out in recent years. So we just have to have patience to find out what eventually will be the thing that helps us.
 
Barn Owls Do Not Suffer From Age-Related Hearing Loss, Study Shows

Why were the barn owls able to maintain such acute hearing throughout their lives? As Helen Thompson of Science News explains, birds are able to regenerate tiny hair cells that line sensory portion of the eardrum.
The authors of the study hope to conduct further investigations into the mechanism that allows barn owls to maintain "ageless" ears, as they put it, which could lead to new treatment options for hearing-impaired humans. Until then, they write, we humans "can only regard this capability of birds with great respect (if not with envy)."
 
Hi, are the Audion trials and Frequency trials for chronic tinnitus?
Thank you.

No - as @Aaron123 has said they are for hearing loss.

However, stay to remain positive because there is also hope that regenerating these haircells may resolve tinnitus (if this is the cause of your tinnitus)

Reasons why a hair cell regeneration may help/alleviate tinnitus

- it fixes the cause (if your tinnitus was by an acoustic trauma/ototoxic meds that damages the hair cells)

- it will give increased input to the DCN and may reverse maladaptive plasticity.

- evidence that hearing aids and cochlear implants reduces tinnitus for some people

It would make sense that once the cause has been addressed this would help tinnitus - however as a condition as complex as tinnitus and little understanding of it we are only speculating

Also, A secondary outcome measure is a change in tinnitus scores for Audion trail, so hopefully we will find out.
 
The abstract of the underlying paper is here: http://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/4399/presentation/1434
It doesn't fit in with Frequency, Decibel, etc directly as this is focused on genetic defects (though it is possible Decibel is working on that....). There's been a lot of work on attempting to fix genetic defects that cause hearing loss in the last few years. Jeffrey Holt, also at Harvard, has been involved in quite a bit of work on the TMC1 gene (and other genetic hearing loss). CRISPR is a new approach, and it will be interesting to see the paper.
 
It does not seem likely. As I already pointed out, companies with strong leadership and credible science can often fund from within, for everyone else there is the Otonomy stand at this upcoming summit.

The goal of every funded company is to go public. That's how the VCs get paid. That's the whole reason they invest.
 

Log in or register to get the full forum benefits!

Register

Register on Tinnitus Talk for free!

Register Now