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Do you have enough hair in your ears? Grow some more! (Re: Hearing Loss)

MediumRare

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Amazing, there is active testing of the first drug that could possibly restore hearing lost due to excessive noise exposure.

Check out the locations where the quadruple-blind study study is being recruited for right now (November, 2019)

https://www.frequencytx.com/pipeline-programs/hearing-program/

Personally, I know my hearing above 14 kHz or so is shot. Maybe even above 12 kHz. I wonder if I would enjoy music more if I could get my hearing back up to, say, 16 kHz? Those of you over 40, what do you think about this?
 

RayDunzl

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MRC01

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I think this is great. Even if it doesn't work, at least somebody is trying.
In my 50s, I can still hear 14k but not 15k. As a teen I could hear up to about 18k, so my age-related loss is minimal. I've protected my hearing pretty well over the years. I might not quality for this study. There's not much musical energy above 14k, so it doesn't make much difference pragmatically. But it only gets worse as we age, so it would be excellent to get some acuity back. My Dad, who spent a lot of time on large ships in the Coast Guard, has terrible hearing. Many people like him could really benefit from this. And we all would too, at some point.
 

RayDunzl

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Personally, I know my hearing above 14 kHz or so is shot. Maybe even above 12 kHz

That's better than me. As far as I know, it's been a lifetime defliction, likely inherited from the maternal side.

First noticed age 8 or so, Dad could hear the LP test sweep most (or all?) of the way up, Mother and I could not.


I wonder if I would enjoy music more if I could get my hearing back up to, say, 16 kHz?

No, then you'd hear all that bad stuff about which others are incessantly complaining.
 

MRC01

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That's better than me. As far as I know, it's been a lifetime defliction, likely inherited from the maternal side.
First noticed age 8 or so, Dad could hear the LP test sweep most (or all?) of the way up, Mother and I could not.
...
That's unusual. Women usually have better hearing than men, especially past middle age. I don't know whether it's genetic, or because fewer women play with noisy "man toys" like firearms, chainsaws, power tools, loud engines, etc. But my wife is another counter-example to this.
 

Newk Yuler

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Wow. They're doing trials a berg over from me (Tampa). With my luck I'd probably get the placebo.
 

pozz

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Really interesting. Thanks for posting this.
 

RayDunzl

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Andolink

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Nothing about it helping tinnitus sufferers such as myself.

My understanding of tinnitus is that it also is the result of damage to the hair cells so it would seem growing new ones could be beneficial in cases such as mine.
 

Hipper

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I think I'll be alright then.

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DavidL

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Sounds great, except for this aspect of the trial, weekly “Intratympanic Injection”. On the plus side, you will only be able to hear the needle instead of seeing it.
 

Sergei

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Nothing about it helping tinnitus sufferers such as myself.

My understanding of tinnitus is that it also is the result of damage to the hair cells so it would seem growing new ones could be beneficial in cases such as mine.

I guess they are being careful, as they should be, in order to avoid unsubstantiated efficacy claims. For their latest trial, they are selecting individuals with very specific range of hearing loss profiles. As I understood, they are only pursuing outer hair cells restoration for now.

Some forms of tinnitus may indeed be related to the outer hair cell loss, and their therapy may help in such cases. However, other forms are caused by deterioration of inner hair cells, or synaptic interfaces between the inner hair cells and auditory nerve fibers. The outer hair cells restoration therapy doesn't currently address that.

As a wide generalization, if an individual doesn't have cochlear frequency bands that lost over 60 dB of hearing threshold, this likely (yet not necessarily) means that the issues are related to the outer hair cells, and thus such form of tinnitus may be responsive to their therapy.
 

Juhazi

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I'm 60 now, but I have never heard much above 8kHz since teenage. Add allergy with constricted tuba Eustachi - tonal balance including bass changes every time I yawn or swallow! But sitll I don't feel handicapped or disabled, this is the norm to me and I can manage everyday life and enjoy music. I can even hear differences when I change dsp parameters for tweeter or different type of tweeter. But I can never trust my hearing and I have no idea how other people hear eg. my diy speakers, so I have learned to take measurements.

ps. no excessive ear hair growth - yet!
 
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