Ears to You!

Hearing loss may have a substantial impact on quality of life contributing to social isolation, impaired learning, and limitations on work responsibilities. In recent decades, middle ear microsurgery (eardrum, hearing bones) has largely solved the problem of conductive hearing loss. Recent breakthroughs in the molecular genetics of deafness and in sensory cell (hair cell) regeneration via application of stem cell technology promises to overcome inner ear deafness in the coming decades. Spectacular advances in digital electronic technology, such as the cochlear implant, which directly stimulates the auditory nerve, are offering hope to the hearing impaired.