CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Have you ever walked by someone listening to their iPod loud enough for you to recognize the song? Studies have shown noise-induced hearing loss is going to become the next big epidemic affecting our younger generation, though the effects won’t show until it is too late to treat. In addition to loud noise, certain cancer drugs or genetic factors can cause hearing loss in humans due to loss or faulty development of the sensory ‘microphones’ (hair cells) inside the ear – the cochlea. Lost hair cells are not replaced and people exposed to these conditions face permanent hearing loss. Identification of the stem cells from the adult cochlea would be a major step forward to develop new therapeutic approaches to hearing loss.
