A new ‘master regulator’ could call the tune for hair cells essential to hearing

(By Elizabeth Cooney for STAT)

The act of hearing is like a ballroom dance, scientist Jaime García-Añoveros says. Tiny hair cells lined up in the outer ear leap and sway, transmitting sound’s vibrations to other hair cells in the inner ear that carry information via nerves to the brain. Exquisitely sensitive to frequency, these hair cells detect highs and lows, music and noise, in something like a ballet. But the music stops when these cells are damaged, by noise or some cancer drugs or antibiotics. The cells can live as long as we do, but once they die, they cannot be regenerated. Continue reading here…

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