Latest Inner ear Stories

Finding may lead to better understanding of how body responds to mechanical stimuliScientists from The Scripps Research Institute have elucidated the action of a protein, harmonin, which is involved in the mechanics of hearing. This finding sheds new light on the workings of mechanotransduction, the process by which cells convert mechanical stimuli into electrical activity. Defects in mechanotransduction genes can cause devastating diseases, such as Usher's syndrome, which is characterized by...

Scientists thought they had a good model to explain how the inner ear translates vibrations in the air into sounds heard by the brain. Now, based on new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine, it looks like parts of the model are wrong.Anthony Ricci, PhD, associate professor of otolaryngology, and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin and the Pellegrin Hospital in France found that the ion channels responsible for hearing aren't located where scientists previously...

Study: Ears have tiny 'flexoelectric' motors to amplify sound Utah and Texas researchers have learned how quiet sounds are magnified by bundles of tiny, hair-like tubes atop "hair cells" in the ear: when the tubes dance back and forth, they act as "flexoelectric motors" that amplify sound mechanically."We are reporting discovery of a new nanoscale motor in the ear," says Richard Rabbitt, the study's principal author and a professor and chair of bioengineering at...

By tweaking a system in the ear that limits how much sound is heard, a global team of researchers has discovered one alteration that shows that the ability of the ear to turn itself down contributes to protecting against permanent hearing loss. The report appears this week in PLoS Biology."There's some uncertainty in the field about what this sound-limiting system is used for," says Paul Fuchs, Ph.D., an author on the paper and professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and...

New British research finds that the Archaeopteryx lithographica seems to have been more like a bird than a reptile in terms of hearing ability. The researchers based their conclusion on their discovery that the length of a part of the inner ear of reptiles and birds can help predict their hearing ability.The team examined whether the length of the cochlear duct, which lies in the inner ear and is part of the cochlea, could be used to deduce hearing ability in a group of modern birds and...

An ear implant that works by aiming infrared light into the inner ear is being explored by U.S. researchers. Nerves located in the ear can be moved by light in addition to sound, and a research group from Northwestern University, Illinois, is trying to capitalize on this idea. Infrared light pointed onto guinea pig nerve cells shaped more superior results than typical cochlear implants, a description in New Scientist magazine stated. However, the UK charity RNID announced that a mechanism for...

On Wednesday, French researchers reported that a protein in the inner ear helps people understand speech and differentiate between sounds.  The finding could help treat those hard of hearing.According to Paul Avan, a researcher from the University of Auvergne, the study also explains why some people have difficultly hearing in noisy places."This won't help cure deafness but will help diagnose why some people have hearing problems, especially in noisy places," said Avan, who...

An Australian researcher says she is attempting to use stem cells to repair damaged nerves related to hearing problems such as deafness. Eye and Ear Hospital researcher Bryon Coleman said stem cells could hold the key to repairing nerves traveling from the brain to the ear, meaning deaf people could potentially be able to hear in the future, The Age reported in its Monday edition. "Fifty years down the track this might be one of many techniques -- we might not even need a cochlear implant,"...

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I dread flying. As the plane descends for landing, my right ear gives me severe pain. After we land, the pain starts to subside, and in a few hours it is mostly gone. I have seen an ear doctor, who found nothing wrong. I chew gum, drink water through a straw, yawn and swallow. I pinch my nose shut and blow. I take Sudafed two hours before departure and a nasal decongestant spray two hours before landing. Nothing helps. Can you offer any suggestions? - F.S. ANSWER: You have...

Scientists in Oregon have discovered that gene therapy may be able to restore working hair cells that are essential for the inner ear to interpret sounds. Writing in the journal Nature, researchers said that these cochlear hair cells send electrical signals to convert sounds and transmit them to the brain. Cochlear cells are naturally irreplaceable. Most people who suffer from hearing loss gradually lose it through the reduction of hair cells in the cochlea. Loud noise is a key contributor to...