Is some deafness hereditary?

Nomad · 09-06-2006, 10:39 AM

I've noticed in AD that a number of families have more than one deaf person to varying degrees and I was wondering if it is to do with genetic circumstances?

sr171soars · 09-06-2006, 10:45 AM

Yep, there is for some people a genetic component for deafness. It can run in families. I believe I read somewhere here and/or elsewhere they have finally identified one of the genetic aspects.

Wheelin Rev · 09-06-2006, 08:14 PM

FWIW, the MELAS disorder, a rare and degenerative neuromuscular disorder can cause deafness as well as blindness and a host of other things. The common MELAS mutation is at the genetic base pair 3243 (A3243G) of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and can be determined by blood samples.

I am affected by MELAS...

Dave

ksbsnowowl · 09-07-2006, 09:26 AM

It can indeed be genetic. My wife has a form of genetic deafness (her mother and sister are/were also deaf), and she even did research into the different forms and biochemical causes of genetic deafness during her internship this past summer.

09-07-2006, 09:51 AM

I was born deaf by unknown cause. I don't have any other deaf family members at all. Only me. It doesn't matter how I became deaf. It's God who made me deaf for some reasons. I don't know if God made all deaf people or some. Who knows? But in my case, I already found out that my deafness came from God who created me to be this way. God has reasons for everyone to be different.

Passivist · 09-07-2006, 10:24 AM

It runs in my family. As far as I am aware I'm fourth generation with a deaf mother, grandmother and great grandmother (why they picked me as the sole male with it, I think was rather mean

). I also have a niece with it so it is carrying on... None of us have ever entered the community at all of deaf people, or attended a deaf school, I learnt sign, the first ever to.

SxyPorkie · 09-07-2006, 10:31 AM

Yes it is hereditary...My mother s side there are few deafies.. On my father s side all of them were born HOH....I dont know if I was born HOH... my mother said i could hear as a baby.. when I had bad whooping cough...I was HOH for many years until about 6 yrs ago... i am deaf... My son was born HOH..

Nomad · 09-07-2006, 10:52 AM

Thanks for that, folks. Another one for the filing cabinet upstairs....

I went hoh about 3 years old, possibly mumps? Only deaf one in entire family and the first we know of

dkf747 · 09-08-2006, 01:30 PM

One of my friend's family is all deaf. Kids, parent, grandparents, great grandparent, geat-geat grand... You get the picture. I guess that means it sometimes is hereditary.

**highlands** · 09-08-2006, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nomad

I've noticed in AD that a number of families have more than one deaf person to varying degrees and I was wondering if it is to do with genetic circumstances?

Yes, my hoh is hereditary. Deafness is common among my father and his relatives . I should state that there were many cousin marriages in previous generations. My father's mother is deaf. My father and his brothers and sisters are hard of hearing varying from mild to moderate losses.

I have severe and profound sensory neural loss bilateraly.

My mother and her relatives have no deafness. My mother perfectly hears. My sisters and brother are also hearing . I'm the only hoh among my siblings and cousins

Being alone as the only hoh person among relatives makes me feel lonely and sometimes depressed

RainGurl · 09-08-2006, 03:13 PM

Yep my hearing loss was by hereditary.
My mother was the same as I, and my girls are with the exception of my youngest (last year my youngest hearing worsened so we are keeping an eye on her). Other than it was all through the genes.

fyborg · 09-09-2006, 07:21 PM

I'm the only deaf one in my family--my parents and sister are hearing. I suppose deafness like mine just happens--I have no genetic markers for deafness, and I wasn't "deafed".

Casperman · 10-07-2006, 10:20 AM

my deafness is from genetics... my dad have over 40 deaf relatives alive or dead since 1775 and it is caused by family marriages... my family tree is so tangled as web LOL he been workin on famiuly tree since he was 16 and me since i was 6 and it so intersting who ya related to etc...

**deafskeptic** · 10-07-2006, 01:04 PM

Deafness isn't inherited in my family and I was born deaf due to rubella. However deafness can be heredity. I know one deaf family who told me in very careful words that it was not deafness itself that was inherited but rather that a medicial conditon that caused deafness is inherited in their family.

dracotkk · 10-08-2006, 11:23 PM

I never knew whether mine was going to be genetic or not. None of my family members were D/HH. I got a test done a few years ago to determine if it would be passed to my kids. It came back undetermined.

sillycat · 10-09-2006, 12:18 AM

Im only hoh in my family due to rubella. But I have met some deafies with hereditary deafness but it is not the largest group in deafness. They majority that I have met became deaf for other reasons--most from diseases and a few by accidents.

athina · 11-02-2006, 07:30 AM

My hearing loss is also hereditary. I have an aunt from my father's side who is hard of hearing and two uncles from my mother's side who are severely deaf.

I think it is not God's will that some of us are deaf or have disabilities we just live in a fallen world. I think God allowed it anyways and then in us His love will be revealed and His power and glory manifested.

But trailing clouds of glory till He comes... Is this a line from a song? Kindly, please give me the other lines. This is beautiful.

Lillys dad · 11-02-2006, 05:17 PM

As others have said, deafness can be genetic. They have figured out the cause of most genetic senseonerual hearing loss. It is a recessive gene called Conexxin 26. This is what caused Lillys deafness. It is only within the last year and a half or so that they can find this out.
When Lilly had her CI surgery, they took a blood sample from her. After the surgery, the Dr. told me they examined her DNA (at our request earlier). They discovered the Conexxin 26. By finding this, it told the Dr that my wife and I were both carriers of this gene. We were further told that any child we had will have a 1 in 4 chance of being born deaf.
I think we were told that Lilly has a 50% chance of being a carrier of this gene also.
1 in 30 Americans are carriers of this gene.

This is the part that pisses me off. When some peopl ehear this, they usually say something along the lines of "well, I guess you are not going to have anymore children are you?". My first comment (before getting rude) is usually along the lines of "Why would it stop me? Just because my daughter is deaf, doesnt mean that theres something wrong with her! From that point, if they figure it out, I stay nice. If they get ignorant, I will get more ignorant.

deafdyke · 11-02-2006, 06:07 PM

Lilysdad, I know,.......it's not like you're a carrier for something like Tay Sachs, or mental retardation or something degenerative or something like Huntingtons or Alizeheimers or whatever. Hearing loss is not that big of a deal!

darkflare83 · 11-02-2006, 06:09 PM

i m the 15th generation of my deaf line bascially my deaf family was in wsd for 150 years and i m sure more than that my deaf family was an indian tribe until my irish grandfather got horny with my grandmoher i ll spare you the details and i m the last of the genetic line of deafness

me_punctured · 11-02-2006, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lillys dad

This is the part that pisses me off. When some peopl ehear this, they usually say something along the lines of "well, I guess you are not going to have anymore children are you?". My first comment (before getting rude) is usually along the lines of "Why would it stop me? Just because my daughter is deaf, doesnt mean that theres something wrong with her! From that point, if they figure it out, I stay nice. If they get ignorant, I will get more ignorant.

I love how you retort back when an ignorant person hurls an insensitive assumption about your plans for bearing more children.

My entire family is hearing. I'm the only congenitally deaf person but I have a good chance of producing deaf children. That doesn't bother me in the slightest bit, as starting a family isn't part of my immediate future plans.

Lillys dad · 11-02-2006, 10:31 PM

That is a very polite way of phrasing that! "retort back" I love it!
I am very used to dealing with people when they are being ignorant. It comes with the job. As far as I am concerned, if you get ignorant with me, it is my moral obligation to get more ignorant with you. Once again, I feel that is also a part of my job. Besides, how dare someone assume that something is wrong with my daughter, or any deaf person simply because they cannot hear, or hear differently than they do. It just proves that their mother should have swallowed on the night they were concieved! OOPS, sorry, I guess the ignorance aspect crept through! Sorry.

Actually, if you are interested, you can get a simple blood test to find out if you are a carrier of conexxin 26.

My wife and I considerede going through the whole genetic counseling thing to find out if there was anything serious hanging out in our DNA that might lead to something serious. Another reason was to find out if the Conexxin 26 led to anything else other than hearing loss. I found out that deafness is the only thing that it causes. We decided that since we produced such a beautiful girl, that nothing is wrong with our DNA.

jillio · 11-04-2006, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lillys dad

As others have said, deafness can be genetic. They have figured out the cause of most genetic senseonerual hearing loss. It is a recessive gene called Conexxin 26. This is what caused Lillys deafness. It is only within the last year and a half or so that they can find this out.
When Lilly had her CI surgery, they took a blood sample from her. After the surgery, the Dr. told me they examined her DNA (at our request earlier). They discovered the Conexxin 26. By finding this, it told the Dr that my wife and I were both carriers of this gene. We were further told that any child we had will have a 1 in 4 chance of being born deaf.
I think we were told that Lilly has a 50% chance of being a carrier of this gene also.
1 in 30 Americans are carriers of this gene.

This is the part that pisses me off. When some peopl ehear this, they usually say something along the lines of "well, I guess you are not going to have anymore children are you?". My first comment (before getting rude) is usually along the lines of "Why would it stop me? Just because my daughter is deaf, doesnt mean that theres something wrong with her! From that point, if they figure it out, I stay nice. If they get ignorant, I will get more ignorant.

UCLA is currently doing extensive research on Connexxin 26. They just received a 3 year grant to continue. (Received an email the other day saying UCLA was looking for research assistants/interpreters/transliteraters for this particular project.) Anything that comes my way, I'll keep you posted on.

**shel90** · 11-04-2006, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lillys dad

As others have said, deafness can be genetic. They have figured out the cause of most genetic senseonerual hearing loss. It is a recessive gene called Conexxin 26. This is what caused Lillys deafness. It is only within the last year and a half or so that they can find this out.
When Lilly had her CI surgery, they took a blood sample from her. After the surgery, the Dr. told me they examined her DNA (at our request earlier). They discovered the Conexxin 26. By finding this, it told the Dr that my wife and I were both carriers of this gene. We were further told that any child we had will have a 1 in 4 chance of being born deaf.
I think we were told that Lilly has a 50% chance of being a carrier of this gene also.
1 in 30 Americans are carriers of this gene.

This is the part that pisses me off. When some peopl ehear this, they usually say something along the lines of "well, I guess you are not going to have anymore children are you?". My first comment (before getting rude) is usually along the lines of "Why would it stop me? Just because my daughter is deaf, doesnt mean that theres something wrong with her! From that point, if they figure it out, I stay nice. If they get ignorant, I will get more ignorant.

My deafness is from the same recessive gene Conexxin 26. My deaf brother and I are the only ones deaf in our family. What makes this so interesting is that my parents just had me and my brother together and then they divorced. They married for the 2nd time and had kids with their 2nd spouses and all my half brothers (1 from my mom and her 2nd husband and 3 from my dad and his 2nd wife)..guess what? They are all hearing so if my parents had another kid together, will that kid be deaf too? I kinda wish they did so we can have more deaf family members but I am lucky to have my deaf brother.

to my brother!

Lillys dad · 11-04-2006, 11:34 PM

If they had another kid, he/she would have a 25% chance of being deaf. As I said 1 in 30 Americans are carriers of this gene. When your parents remarried and had other children, if their respective spouses were carriers of Conexxin 26, then they too would have a 25% chance of having a deaf child.

Lillys dad · 11-04-2006, 11:35 PM

Jillio, please keep me updated!

LuciaDisturbed · 11-05-2006, 12:05 PM

My fiance Abel is deaf (born deaf) and his 2 brothers are also deaf. We don't know, though, if it's due to Connexin 26, all we know is it's the genetics. So, yeah, if we have kids, chances are good they will be deaf.

My deafness is not genetic, it's due to too many ear infections.

annabelle · 11-06-2006, 10:34 AM

Both my mother and grandmother were profoundly deaf as is my elder sister Im deaf but didnt lose my hearing until I was a teenager, my 9 year old daughter is profoundly deaf.

jillio · 11-06-2006, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lillys dad

Jillio, please keep me updated!

Will do!

greema · 11-07-2006, 03:55 PM

Lillys dad: Another reason was to find out if the Conexxin 26 led to anything else other than hearing loss. I found out that deafness is the only thing that it causes. We decided that since we produced such a beautiful girl, that nothing is wrong with our DNA. That is the cause of deafness/hoh in my immediate family and even in our daughter-in-law's (Fragmenter's wife) family (her older sister is hoh and I personally know their older second-cousin whose mother actually knew me as a little girl!) and in our son-in-law's (Fragmenter's sister's husband) family (he has deaf parents, deaf half-brothers and a few deaf uncles on his father's side, not sure about his mother's side). I have 2 older adult children (hearing) by my first husband who came from a deaf family that had different causes of their deafness/hoh but not genetic.
And Lillys dad, yes you do indeed have a beautiful little girl! No, there is nothing wrong with your DNA!

Lucia: My fiance Abel is deaf (born deaf) and his 2 brothers are also deaf. We don't know, though, if it's due to Connexin 26, all we know is it's the genetics. So, yeah, if we have kids, chances are good they will be deaf.

My deafness is not genetic, it's due to too many ear infections. Lucia, if I remember right, it will be more likely 25% possible for you and Abel if you don't have Connexin 26. But still enjoy your future children whether they're deaf or not!

Jillo: UCLA is currently doing extensive research on Connexxin 26. They just received a 3 year grant to continue. (Received an email the other day saying UCLA was looking for research assistants/interpreters/transliteraters for this particular project.) Anything that comes my way, I'll keep you posted on. That is interesting tidbit of information. Actually Gallaudet did the research on my family about 7 or 8 years ago. I'd filled out a questionnaire Fragmenter and his sister brought home from school and they "zeroed" on us due to the different aspects of deafness in my family -- remember I had 2 hearing children from 1st husband from a deaf family and then 2 deaf children from my husband from a mostly hearing family -- he has 1 hearing bro, 1 hoh sister and 1 deaf sister and nothing further while I have a hoh sister and nothing further. And I know many deaf/hoh siblings and have suspicions they have the same cause.
__________________
Ok, ok, I'll just shut up. Have a nice evening, all...

09-06-2006, 10:39 AM	#1 (permalink)
Nomad Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 156	Is some deafness hereditary? I've noticed in AD that a number of families have more than one deaf person to varying degrees and I was wondering if it is to do with genetic circumstances?

09-06-2006, 10:45 AM	#2 (permalink)
sr171soars Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 2,700	Yep, there is for some people a genetic component for deafness. It can run in families. I believe I read somewhere here and/or elsewhere they have finally identified one of the genetic aspects. __________________ But trailing clouds of glory till He comes... Foolishness is not a virtue

09-07-2006, 10:31 AM	#7 (permalink)
SxyPorkie Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: Southern California Posts: 3,095	Yes it is hereditary...My mother s side there are few deafies.. On my father s side all of them were born HOH....I dont know if I was born HOH... my mother said i could hear as a baby.. when I had bad whooping cough...I was HOH for many years until about 6 yrs ago... i am deaf... My son was born HOH.. __________________ Life Goes On!!

09-09-2006, 07:21 PM	#12 (permalink)
fyborg Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: St. Louis Posts: 642	I'm the only deaf one in my family--my parents and sister are hearing. I suppose deafness like mine just happens--I have no genetic markers for deafness, and I wasn't "deafed". __________________ Red Shirts are 88% more likely to be shot at. Stay away and stay alive!

10-07-2006, 10:20 AM	#13 (permalink)
Casperman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: state of fast horses, fast ladies and hillbilly drunkards Posts: 433	my deafness is from genetics... my dad have over 40 deaf relatives alive or dead since 1775 and it is caused by family marriages... my family tree is so tangled as web LOL he been workin on famiuly tree since he was 16 and me since i was 6 and it so intersting who ya related to etc... __________________

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09-06-2006, 08:14 PM	#3 (permalink)
Wheelin Rev Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Maryland, USA Posts: 534	FWIW, the MELAS disorder, a rare and degenerative neuromuscular disorder can cause deafness as well as blindness and a host of other things. The common MELAS mutation is at the genetic base pair 3243 (A3243G) of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and can be determined by blood samples. I am affected by MELAS... Dave

09-07-2006, 09:26 AM	#4 (permalink)
ksbsnowowl Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: Kansas City MO, or Mequon WI Posts: 80	It can indeed be genetic. My wife has a form of genetic deafness (her mother and sister are/were also deaf), and she even did research into the different forms and biochemical causes of genetic deafness during her internship this past summer.

09-07-2006, 09:51 AM	#5 (permalink)
Momoftwo Guest Posts: n/a	I was born deaf by unknown cause. I don't have any other deaf family members at all. Only me. It doesn't matter how I became deaf. It's God who made me deaf for some reasons. I don't know if God made all deaf people or some. Who knows? But in my case, I already found out that my deafness came from God who created me to be this way. God has reasons for everyone to be different.

09-07-2006, 10:24 AM	#6 (permalink)
Passivist Registered User Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 291	It runs in my family. As far as I am aware I'm fourth generation with a deaf mother, grandmother and great grandmother (why they picked me as the sole male with it, I think was rather mean ). I also have a niece with it so it is carrying on... None of us have ever entered the community at all of deaf people, or attended a deaf school, I learnt sign, the first ever to.

09-07-2006, 10:52 AM	#8 (permalink)
Nomad Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 156	Thanks for that, folks. Another one for the filing cabinet upstairs.... I went hoh about 3 years old, possibly mumps? Only deaf one in entire family and the first we know of

09-08-2006, 01:30 PM	#9 (permalink)
dkf747 Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Location: DC Area Posts: 921	One of my friend's family is all deaf. Kids, parent, grandparents, great grandparent, geat-geat grand... You get the picture. I guess that means it sometimes is hereditary.

09-08-2006, 03:13 PM	#11 (permalink)
RainGurl Registered User Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Parked Permanently at AllDeaf! Posts: 1,071	Yep my hearing loss was by hereditary. My mother was the same as I, and my girls are with the exception of my youngest (last year my youngest hearing worsened so we are keeping an eye on her). Other than it was all through the genes.

10-07-2006, 01:04 PM	#14 (permalink)
deafskeptic Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 14,518	Deafness isn't inherited in my family and I was born deaf due to rubella. However deafness can be heredity. I know one deaf family who told me in very careful words that it was not deafness itself that was inherited but rather that a medicial conditon that caused deafness is inherited in their family.

10-08-2006, 11:23 PM	#15 (permalink)
dracotkk Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 243	I never knew whether mine was going to be genetic or not. None of my family members were D/HH. I got a test done a few years ago to determine if it would be passed to my kids. It came back undetermined.

10-09-2006, 12:18 AM	#16 (permalink)
sillycat Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Kitty travel carrier Posts: 910	Im only hoh in my family due to rubella. But I have met some deafies with hereditary deafness but it is not the largest group in deafness. They majority that I have met became deaf for other reasons--most from diseases and a few by accidents.

11-02-2006, 07:30 AM	#17 (permalink)
athina Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: The Philippines Posts: 21 Blog Entries: 1	My hearing loss is also hereditary. I have an aunt from my father's side who is hard of hearing and two uncles from my mother's side who are severely deaf. I think it is not God's will that some of us are deaf or have disabilities we just live in a fallen world. I think God allowed it anyways and then in us His love will be revealed and His power and glory manifested. But trailing clouds of glory till He comes... Is this a line from a song? Kindly, please give me the other lines. This is beautiful.

11-02-2006, 05:17 PM	#18 (permalink)
Lillys dad Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: St. Louis MO. Posts: 863	As others have said, deafness can be genetic. They have figured out the cause of most genetic senseonerual hearing loss. It is a recessive gene called Conexxin 26. This is what caused Lillys deafness. It is only within the last year and a half or so that they can find this out. When Lilly had her CI surgery, they took a blood sample from her. After the surgery, the Dr. told me they examined her DNA (at our request earlier). They discovered the Conexxin 26. By finding this, it told the Dr that my wife and I were both carriers of this gene. We were further told that any child we had will have a 1 in 4 chance of being born deaf. I think we were told that Lilly has a 50% chance of being a carrier of this gene also. 1 in 30 Americans are carriers of this gene. This is the part that pisses me off. When some peopl ehear this, they usually say something along the lines of "well, I guess you are not going to have anymore children are you?". My first comment (before getting rude) is usually along the lines of "Why would it stop me? Just because my daughter is deaf, doesnt mean that theres something wrong with her! From that point, if they figure it out, I stay nice. If they get ignorant, I will get more ignorant. __________________ Lilly CI right ear Sept 8 2005 CI left ear Jan 17 2007

11-02-2006, 06:07 PM	#19 (permalink)
deafdyke Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Trebekistan Posts: 13,234	Lilysdad, I know,.......it's not like you're a carrier for something like Tay Sachs, or mental retardation or something degenerative or something like Huntingtons or Alizeheimers or whatever. Hearing loss is not that big of a deal!

11-02-2006, 06:09 PM	#20 (permalink)
darkflare83 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: milwaukee state of wisconsin Posts: 777	i m the 15th generation of my deaf line bascially my deaf family was in wsd for 150 years and i m sure more than that my deaf family was an indian tribe until my irish grandfather got horny with my grandmoher i ll spare you the details and i m the last of the genetic line of deafness __________________

11-02-2006, 10:31 PM	#22 (permalink)
Lillys dad Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: St. Louis MO. Posts: 863	That is a very polite way of phrasing that! "retort back" I love it! I am very used to dealing with people when they are being ignorant. It comes with the job. As far as I am concerned, if you get ignorant with me, it is my moral obligation to get more ignorant with you. Once again, I feel that is also a part of my job. Besides, how dare someone assume that something is wrong with my daughter, or any deaf person simply because they cannot hear, or hear differently than they do. It just proves that their mother should have swallowed on the night they were concieved! OOPS, sorry, I guess the ignorance aspect crept through! Sorry. Actually, if you are interested, you can get a simple blood test to find out if you are a carrier of conexxin 26. My wife and I considerede going through the whole genetic counseling thing to find out if there was anything serious hanging out in our DNA that might lead to something serious. Another reason was to find out if the Conexxin 26 led to anything else other than hearing loss. I found out that deafness is the only thing that it causes. We decided that since we produced such a beautiful girl, that nothing is wrong with our DNA. __________________ Lilly CI right ear Sept 8 2005 CI left ear Jan 17 2007 Last edited by Lillys dad; 11-02-2006 at 10:32 PM. Reason: typo

11-04-2006, 11:34 PM	#25 (permalink)
Lillys dad Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: St. Louis MO. Posts: 863	If they had another kid, he/she would have a 25% chance of being deaf. As I said 1 in 30 Americans are carriers of this gene. When your parents remarried and had other children, if their respective spouses were carriers of Conexxin 26, then they too would have a 25% chance of having a deaf child. __________________ Lilly CI right ear Sept 8 2005 CI left ear Jan 17 2007

11-04-2006, 11:35 PM	#26 (permalink)
Lillys dad Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: St. Louis MO. Posts: 863	Jillio, please keep me updated! __________________ Lilly CI right ear Sept 8 2005 CI left ear Jan 17 2007

11-05-2006, 12:05 PM	#27 (permalink)
LuciaDisturbed Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 7,733	My fiance Abel is deaf (born deaf) and his 2 brothers are also deaf. We don't know, though, if it's due to Connexin 26, all we know is it's the genetics. So, yeah, if we have kids, chances are good they will be deaf. My deafness is not genetic, it's due to too many ear infections. __________________ "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - Philosopher George Santayana. Implanted left ear 10/11/06, activated 10/16/06 - Nucleus Freedom My own CI experience, my views on CI and ASL and Deaf Culture and Society DeviantArt

11-06-2006, 10:34 AM	#28 (permalink)
annabelle Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 9	Both my mother and grandmother were profoundly deaf as is my elder sister Im deaf but didnt lose my hearing until I was a teenager, my 9 year old daughter is profoundly deaf.

11-07-2006, 03:55 PM	#30 (permalink)
greema Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 605	Lillys dad: Another reason was to find out if the Conexxin 26 led to anything else other than hearing loss. I found out that deafness is the only thing that it causes. We decided that since we produced such a beautiful girl, that nothing is wrong with our DNA. That is the cause of deafness/hoh in my immediate family and even in our daughter-in-law's (Fragmenter's wife) family (her older sister is hoh and I personally know their older second-cousin whose mother actually knew me as a little girl!) and in our son-in-law's (Fragmenter's sister's husband) family (he has deaf parents, deaf half-brothers and a few deaf uncles on his father's side, not sure about his mother's side). I have 2 older adult children (hearing) by my first husband who came from a deaf family that had different causes of their deafness/hoh but not genetic. And Lillys dad, yes you do indeed have a beautiful little girl! No, there is nothing wrong with your DNA! Lucia: My fiance Abel is deaf (born deaf) and his 2 brothers are also deaf. We don't know, though, if it's due to Connexin 26, all we know is it's the genetics. So, yeah, if we have kids, chances are good they will be deaf. My deafness is not genetic, it's due to too many ear infections. Lucia, if I remember right, it will be more likely 25% possible for you and Abel if you don't have Connexin 26. But still enjoy your future children whether they're deaf or not! Jillo: UCLA is currently doing extensive research on Connexxin 26. They just received a 3 year grant to continue. (Received an email the other day saying UCLA was looking for research assistants/interpreters/transliteraters for this particular project.) Anything that comes my way, I'll keep you posted on. That is interesting tidbit of information. Actually Gallaudet did the research on my family about 7 or 8 years ago. I'd filled out a questionnaire Fragmenter and his sister brought home from school and they "zeroed" on us due to the different aspects of deafness in my family -- remember I had 2 hearing children from 1st husband from a deaf family and then 2 deaf children from my husband from a mostly hearing family -- he has 1 hearing bro, 1 hoh sister and 1 deaf sister and nothing further while I have a hoh sister and nothing further. And I know many deaf/hoh siblings and have suspicions they have the same cause. __________________ Ok, ok, I'll just shut up. Have a nice evening, all... __________________ The highest result of education is tolerance. -- Helen Keller

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