Restore hair, restore hearing

[wdlove]

One local doctor is trying to reverse deafness by using stem cells to grow new hair in the inner ear.

Few of us ever worry about the hair cells deep within our ears -- until it's too late. But gradually, either with age, exposure to loud noise or damage from medication, the few thousand hair cells with which each person is born die off, one-by-one, and hearing ability fades inexorably. Once the hair cells are gone, there's no getting them back.

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2004/02/03/restore_hair_restore_hearing/

 

[teabgs]

I hope he's successful cause I'm kind of counting on being able to 'restore' my hearing by time it goes...cause if the music ain't loud it's not worth listening....and I always gotta be listening

 

[Pseudonym]

Kinda ironic. It always seems to me that as you get older your hair disappears from your head and takes up residence growing out of your ears!

 

[eyelikeart]

Hair is a weird thing, esp with the way it stops growth in some spots & continues in others.

As for my hearing, I keep a box of earplugs in my car at all times. One thing I hate about loud clubs is that ringing I get after a while. I prefer to keep it down to a minimum when I can help it.

 

[Les Kern]

What?

 

[macguymike]

Originally posted by eyelikeart
As for my hearing, I keep a box of earplugs in my car at all times. One thing I hate about loud clubs is that ringing I get after a while. I prefer to keep it down to a minimum when I can help it.

There's a name for that. It's called tinnitus. You're wise to keep that box of earplugs within arm's reach as it can become permanent.

I suffer from a permanent ringing in my ears as a result of attending very loud rock concerts. The one that really killed me was, I think, spending all day at OzzFest one year and attending a show in a small club and standing too close to the speakers both within the same week, give or take a few days.



I'd love to be able to "hear" silence again.

 

[wdlove]

I never attended any rock band concerts. Have been to places where it caused some tinnitus. One place was at Armco Steel while repairing the tracks in front of the blast furnace, heat was a big problem, but the noise was roaring sound. ASs far as I can remember, we didn't wear any protection. Although not as bad as being on a Air Force cargo plane like the C 141 Galaxy. The noise was so loud that that it was difficult to hear someone right in front of you talking, had to yell. We used the Air Force issued ear plugs. Always carried extra.