PLOS Biology<\/em> has experts hopeful for a solution to the problem of age-related hearing loss. Karen Steel, a neuroscientist at King\u2019s College in London, led a team of researchers interested in studying the underlying causes of progressive hearing loss. They examined 1,200 mice, each with a different gene mutation, testing the hearing abilities of each mouse in an attempt and paying careful attention to the brain cells responsible for processing sound in order to detect even mild forms of hearing loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\nResearchers were able to identify 38 new genes responsible for hearing loss; a little over three percent of the 1,211 genes tested in the mice. Given that tens of thousands of genes exist in total, scientists estimate there are around 1,000 that may be associated with hearing loss. In addition, 10 genes were discovered that can help maintain hearing with age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Says Steel, \u201cOur results tell us that there are a large number of genes involved in deafness\u2026and many different types of abnormality of the auditory system that can lead to hearing loss.\u201d She believes this makes a \u201cone-size-fits-all\u201d treatment for hearing loss all but impossible but is encouraged that better diagnostic tools can be developed to better distinguish between different types of hearing problems. Additionally, identifying and classifying the genes that are responsible for early-onset hearing loss may someday help doctors take a proactive approach to treating \u2013 and possibly even preventing \u2013 hearing-loss related to aging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more information on age-related hearing loss, talk to your Exton audiologist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The most common causes of hearing loss in Exton are aging and noise exposure. Hearing protection can help prevent hearing damage from noise, but there is little you can do to stop age-related hearing loss (medically termed presbycusis). The results of a new study help shed light on the genes responsible for hearing decline in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"610-384-8300 Exton | The results of a new study help shed light on the genes responsible for hearing decline in our advanced years.","_seopress_robots_index":"","fname":"","lname":"","position":"","credentials":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hearing-loss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pentadocs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pentadocs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pentadocs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pentadocs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pentadocs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pentadocs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pentadocs.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pentadocs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pentadocs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pentadocs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}