Promises of a "final" treatment of Middle East deafness

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In a pioneering scientific stage that promises considerable potential for the permanent treatment of deafness in humans, US researchers have been successful in developing capillaries that detect sounds inside the body. the cochlea, which usually converts sound vibrations into electrical signals. The ability of these capillaries to detect sound vibrations due to aging or loud noises.
– auditory rehabilitation
Researchers at the University of Rochester, New York, have stated that reconstructing capillaries in the inner ear cochlea will restore auditory strength after a loss. Thirty million Americans and about 10 million Britons suffer from hearing impairment, to one degree or another.
Researchers have noted that a number of animals, such as birds, fish and frogs, have the ability to reproduce and regenerate sensitive capillary cells, said researchers who had published their study in the journal Neurology. "It's funny that white animals are different from other animals by their inability to renew the cochlea," said Dr. Jingyuan Zhang, a researcher in the department of university biology.
The study was conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Patricia White, Assistant Professor at the University Medical Center, who discovered in 2012 a strain of receptors called epidermal growth factor, which plays a role in stimulating the support cells. in the auditory system of birds. When this factor is activated, these cells proliferate and generate sensitive cells for the filaments of the ear.
"In mice, the receptors (epidermal growth factor) of the cochlea work all their lives," said White.
Researchers at the Harvard School of Medicine's Ear and Eye Hospital in Massachusetts have been involved in the study that "epidermal growth factor" receptor signals may play a role in the regeneration of the shell in humans. white animals.
The researchers focused on a particular type of receptor present in the cochlear support cells and found that activation of these receptors led to a consistent chain of processes, in which the support cells proliferated, as well as To the activation of adjacent stem cells also transformed into sensitive hair cells. The researchers also noted that the activation process not only led to the regeneration of sensitive hair follicles, but also completed these capillaries with neurons.

– End of age of deafness
For her part, American researcher Jane R. The world of sound has become a reality for deaf children. Madel, a specialist in hearing problems in children with speech and language skills at the University of Brooklyn, wants all parents with a hearing-impaired child to learn to listen and talk to hearing-impaired children.
"Children with birth defects who are equipped with the necessary techniques in the first weeks after birth interact so well with others that people do not realize it," Madil said in an interview. granted to the American media.
A speech and language specialist suggests that the use of appropriate hearing aids, the provision of audio-visual training to children and those who care for them during the preschool years allow those even those who are born with a complete design, "to learn with their peers when they arrive at school" "85% of these children succeed their natural mix and parents need to know that the word and hearing is possible for their children. "
As part of her intention to convey this message to all who knew that their children did not have a natural sense of hearing, Madel and her colleague Irene Taylor Brodsky produced a documentary entitled Hearing Project to highlight important assistance available through advanced audition and audio training programs.
Among the film's "heroes", most of whom are deaf or have serious hearing problems, include Dr. Elizabeth Bounagora (physician, obstetrics and surgery), Jake Spinewitz (musician), Joanna Liebert (medical social worker) ) and Amy Polik. .
They all started with hearing aids that helped them learn, speak and understand spoken language, but today they have undergone cochlear implants that, in Lippert's words, "have truly revolutionized his world "at the age of 11 years. For cochlear implantation before adolescence at the New York University Medical Center.
Polik, deaf since birth, said, "The faster the cochlear implants are implanted, the higher the success rate, because the person can develop better hearing skills every time the brain experiences auditory intervention at an early age. . "

– cochlear implantation
Cochlear implantation ignores disturbed poetic cells in the auditory system and transmits the sound directly to the auditory nerve, so that the brain can treat it.
This cochlea can be implanted in children before the age of walking. According to the National Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, hearing impaired children who undergo cochlear implants before the age of 18 months can develop language skills similar to those of children without hearing problems.
But many still resist these techniques, insisting that hearing-impaired youths must learn only sign language and reject the idea that deafness should be treated. But, as Madil points out, only 0.1% of the world's population knows sign language, 95% of deaf children are born to hearing parents and then have to spend a lot of time learning a deaf and dumb language during the period when children usually learn Speech
The American Pediatric Association has defined the "1 – 3-6" guidelines, which state that the child must be auditioned the first month and must not be diagnosed with hearing loss the third month nor begin early intervention after the sixth month. But currently, only 67% of children with complete deafness benefit from the required intervention at the age of 6 months.