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Genetic Research and Hearing Care

Hearing Aids and Your Genes

It’s all in the genes. You may have heard this a few times before and you may hear it again. There is so much advice around about diet and exercise, mental health and well-being but a lot of what determines our lives, including our hearing, comes from our genes. If you, or your loved ones, are losing your hearing then this could be caused by one or more factors that you can check and prevent, like exposure to loud noises. If your genetic makeup is the major contributing factor to your hearing loss then the best thing you can do is start to wear a suitable hearing aid.

Your Genes, Your Hearing

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the US, 50 to 60 percent of hearing loss in babies is due to genetic causes. Sometimes both genes and environment work together to cause hearing loss. Some medicines can cause hearing loss, but only in people who have certain mutations in their genes. Your genes contain the instructions that tell the cells in your body how to grow and work. There are many genes that are involved in hearing and, sometimes, a gene does not form in the expected manner. A mutation like this can run in families and if more than one person in your family has hearing loss it may also ‘run in the family’.

Genetic Research and Hearing Care

The causes of hearing loss can be diagnosed by a medical doctor and solutions provided by a good, professional audiologist, like Clarisound. Things can get complicated when your genes cause your hearing loss. Researchers have recently found new cell types that are responsible for hearing loss in humans. Using data from different cell types in the inner ear and brain, researchers at the Karolinska Institut, Sweden, were able to identify cell types that have a major contribution to hearing loss. Results show that hearing loss mainly originates from a distinct compartment in the cochlea, the ‘powerhouse’ of your inner ear.

“The findings in this study are important because it points at where research should be geared to provide better rehabilitation strategies for people with hearing loss,” says Associate Professor, and co-author, Christopher R. Cederroth adding, “Researchers have mainly focused their efforts on the sensory hair cells, or the auditory neurons within the ear, with attempts to restore their function or to regenerate the missing cells. However, this may not prove useful if the powerhouse of the ear is dysfunctional.”

Whilst hearing loss, from whatever cause, goes on, research into hearing loss becomes more informative. Hearing aids are your main hearing care solution for hearing loss and a good, professional audiologist, like Clarisound, is the best choice for restoring your hearing and your quality of life. Please don’t hesitate to book an appointment with one of our friendly, professional audiologists at Clarisound. We can’t change your genes but we can change your hearing.

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