- Noise-induced hearing loss affects hundreds of millions of people globally, with military personnel, construction workers, and concert-goers among the most at risk.
- While researchers know how the afferent nerve pathway works, far less is known about the efferent nerve system — the brain's feedback mechanism for regulating hearing.
- Creighton University researcher Hui Hong hopes that better understanding how the brain responds to hearing loss will lead to new therapies that stop permanent damage before it occurs.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Noise-induced hearing loss affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, and a group of researchers at Creighton University is working to find new ways to protect it.
Hui Hong, an assistant professor at Creighton University, is studying how the brain's feedback system responds to hearing loss, with a focus on hearing disorders and how to treat them. Her work begins with one of the most common causes of hearing damage: loud noise.
"Loud music usually is loudness, so loud music, concerts, you know, work, construction, and people working on the airplane, and military people they actually have more prevalent noise induced hearing loss," Hong said.
The human ear relies on two key nerve pathways — afferent and efferent — that allow the brain and the ear to communicate, sending signals back and forth to process sound and regulate hearing. While researchers have a strong understanding of the afferent pathway, far less is known about the efferent nerve system.
"Because this system, they, the neurons that, in this system, are located deep in our brains done. Our research is to study how this even system, responds to noise induced hearing loss condition," Hong said.
As the research moves forward, the team hopes a better understanding of the brain's response to hearing loss will open the door to new therapies that protect hearing before the damage becomes permanent.
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