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Proteins That May Restore Damaged Sound-Detecting Cells in the Ear

hopkinsmedicine.org

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Re: Proteins That May Restore Damaged Sound-Detecting Cells in the Ear

#91

I would love the opposite... some kind of medical treatment to make my ears less sensitive to sound. I feel constantly bombarded by noise to a point where now I got this dorky little thing on my keychain with ear plugs in it for loud places. Curious if anyone here has experience w/ this and any advice.

I don't have experience with it, but I have heard of what you are saying and I believe the technical term for it is "hyperacusis". If you haven't already done so, search that term and I'm sure you will find people with similar experiences. I would also suggest trying to find communities on Reddit, it looks like they even have a subreddit with a few hundred people subscribed, "https://www.reddit.com/r/hyperacusis/"

Re: Proteins That May Restore Damaged Sound-Detecting Cells in the Ear

#92
i remember about a call for volunteers for an experiment treating hearing loss with some proteins and/or adenoviruses (not a specialist). this was a couple of years ago and it sounded pretty much exactly like what this article describes. a 90% success rate was expected.

as this was in the u.s. (washington dc, iirc?) and i'm not a citizen i didn't apply. i thought it to be a game changer, but found no follow up articles.

the original search even was on HN, but i have little hope of finding it again.

edit, after a little bit of googling:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4464776/ and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5225386/

Re: Proteins That May Restore Damaged Sound-Detecting Cells in the Ear

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad has severe hearing loss (hearing aids, etc.) but we made an interesting discovery: bone-conduction headphones bypass the portion of his ear that's damaged. When he first put them on he literally said: "That's better than I've heard anything sound in a decade". YMMV but it might be something useful to try with your wife.

Do you have a source for any good bone conduction headphones? I have a damaged eardrum that stops me hearing low frequencies. Recently tried a demonstration at SF's Exploratorium which involved biting a metal bar, and the result was incredible! Most bone conduction headphones I find when searching (eg AfterShokz) appear to rest against the bones around the ear, so I'm not sure if they're as effective.

FWIW - it was actually a pair of AfterShokz that my dad tried (as well as a different brand of wireless ones).

Re: Proteins That May Restore Damaged Sound-Detecting Cells in the Ear

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source for any good bone conduction headphones? I have a damaged eardrum that stops me hearing low frequencies. Recently tried a demonstration at SF's Exploratorium which involved biting a metal bar, and the result was incredible! Most bone conduction headphones I find when searching (eg AfterShokz) appear to rest against the bones around the ear, so I'm not sure if they're as effective.

FWIW - it was actually a pair of AfterShokz that my dad tried (as well as a different brand of wireless ones).

Thanks, I'll see if I can try some in person

Re: Proteins That May Restore Damaged Sound-Detecting Cells in the Ear

#95
post #69
post #30

I'll be interested to see how this pans out. I have significant hearing loss in both ears from infections as a baby, and the doctors always said it was because the hairs in my cochlea are dead. I was denied a few opportunities when I was younger due to my hearing, and I still can't hear most higher frequency sounds (whistles, some cymbals, smoke detectors, fire alarms...etc). It would be nice to be able to hear what…

I honestly don't know if you'd be a candidate, however look into Auditory Integration Training and the idea of hearing imbalances; ear infections are a known cause of creating imbalances, which can lead to hyper- and hypo-sensitivity to sound, and specific frequencies even. There's a book available on Amazon called "Hearing Equals Behaviour: Updated and Expanded" that has original book in it as well. I first did AIT…

I think I would benefit from this sort of technique. Do you know of any available tools or audio resources that implement it? Your comment about frequency decibel imbalances is the most concrete information I've been able to find on the topic, so thank you.

Re: Proteins That May Restore Damaged Sound-Detecting Cells in the Ear

#96
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't know if you'd be a candidate, however look into Auditory Integration Training and the idea of hearing imbalances; ear infections are a known cause of creating imbalances, which can lead to hyper- and hypo-sensitivity to sound, and specific frequencies even. There's a book available on Amazon called "Hearing Equals Behaviour: Updated and Expanded" that has original book in it as well. I first did AIT…

I think I would benefit from this sort of technique. Do you know of any available tools or audio resources that implement it? Your comment about frequency decibel imbalances is the most concrete information I've been able to find on the topic, so thank you.

Every aspect of the protocol is important including the sound equipment used. Can you let me know what your goal is relating to your questions so I can try to better/more specifically answer? If you're wanting to see if AIT would help you then the first step is finding an audiologist who knows the protocol to check for hearing imbalances, or worse case scenario sharing the how-to guide for it with them - whether they will learn it and do it for you is another question, why it's easier to find an audiologist who already offers it; searching for "auditory integration training + your city/area" and/or "berard ait + your city name/area" is likely the quickest route.

Re: Proteins That May Restore Damaged Sound-Detecting Cells in the Ear

#97

I was hoping to read that it might also help people like myself who suffer from tinnitus. Sadly, no. Still, if it can restore hearing to the deaf, this is a good thing.

It's kinda funny. I really enjoy my tinnitus. The pulsing ring in my left ear merges with the buzzing in my right and it "Sounds like Quiet" to me. Maybe because I've had it since I was a baby I'm more adapted to it. Then again I don't think mine is nearly as bad as some people's.

Re: Proteins That May Restore Damaged Sound-Detecting Cells in the Ear

#98
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone with full spectrum hearing, a lot of those environments are awful for me too. Just miserable to be practically yelling to be heard and then needing to cup your hand over your ear to make out what they're saying, often just giving up and nodding and hoping that a "nod" response makes sense in the context of whatever they said.

fwiw: I've found it a fair bit easier to hear others with earplugs in (when it's noisy around). especially the concert-goer ones, at least in part since they usually reduce volume less (normal foam ones reduce 30db or so, which is quite a bit).

Me too, but others have problem with hearing me. It's harder to control my own volume and I tend to speak more softly because of the feedback the earplugs create.
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