Harvard Medical School researchers have shown that tiny hairs in the ears that detect sound can be restored to reverse hearing loss in mice, in findings published in the Jan. 10 edition of Neuron.
Sensorineural hearing loss, or the hearing loss caused by the loss of sensory hair cells in the cochlea, is the most common form of deafness. In a healthy ear, there are plenty of these tiny hairs, which convert vibrations caused by sound into electric signals.
The researchers injected a drug into the cochlea of deaf mice who had almost none of these hairs left. The drug caused cells that normally support the hairs to grow hairs themselves. Complete hearing was not restored, but the mice were able to detect noises such as traffic or the sound of a door opening.
