Quote:
Originally Posted by GrendelQ
This is what I took away as near-term developments in treating, preventing, "curing" deafness: - Tools that will more easily ID genetic causes of deafness
- Measures that flag people susceptible to noise and ototoxic drug damage BEFORE deafness occurs
- Markers that ID those likely to become late-deafened
- Improved cochlear implants that not only provide more access to better sound, but also combine drug-therapy and cell-delivery to repair damage (to rescue spiral ganglion cells or even generate new ones)
- Synergistic use of CI tech and natural ear functions together
- Different set of candidacy procedures for CIs using EEG
- Multimodal cognitive “brain training” exercises
- Increased auditory brain-stem implantation
- Hair-cell regeneration and/or stem-cell therapy (a more distant development in the next few decades)
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I LOVE what they are doing with CI candidacy and brain waves. I am talking to a researcher in Colorado who is studying CAERs (central auditory evoked responses). They have the ability to put a cap with electrodes on a persons head and play a repetitive sound (bah, bah, bah) and measure the auditory cortex's response to that sound. If the response is within the "appropriate range" there is a very high correlation between that score and the ability to understand and use fluent spoken language (greater than .8). They use the test to measure whether or not a child is getting enough benefit from hearing aids! Now they can avoid long waiting periods for CI's and test "borderline candidates such as those who have AN or help decide about bi-laterals!