WXTK Better Health Report

Hearing loss affects 2/3 of people over the age of 70 and if talk to anyone who wears a hearing aid, they leave a lot to be desired.

I’ve been keeping tabs on some promising research involving hearing loss over the past couple of years and it seems there is a lot of progress being made, but nothing that I felt was ready to report to you yet.

But I DO want to let you know about an exciting new study from USC and Harvard.

They found a way to deliver medicine to the inner ear that will stay put and theoretically help regenerate the hair- like sensory cells and bundles of neurons that are needed to transmit sound.

This is great news because it is notoriously hard to treat the inner ear, as fluids constantly wash away any medicine placed there.

Now the reason I said theoretical is because they only did this experiment in a petri dish with mouse tissue. But the researchers are very hopeful this can be just as successful when tested in living animals and humans.

The treatment has the potential to not only help restore hearing but also improve treatment of inner ear infections and disorders.

This is Joan Trimble wishing you wellness.