CatoCooper13
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13:53 AEST Mon Aug 2 2004
A revelation that the inner ear functions like a highly sensitive underwater piano could lead to cures for hearing loss and tinnitus.
Vibrating cells in the highly tuned cochlea of the inner ear produced their own sound in much the same way as a well-tuned piano resonated, Australian National University biological science PhD student Andrew Bell said.
The idea of the ear as a resonating instrument could one day yield treatments for a range of ear disorders, he said.
"It's going to have lots of implications," Mr Bell told AAP.
"Understanding the cochlea works this way will help find ways of preventing or overcoming deafness, it could help us understand why millions of people experience tinnitus - ringing in the ear - and could underpin efforts towards a cure for this affliction."
Mr Bell's research, published in the latest Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, was based on the idea that vibrating cells in the hairs of the cochlea vibrated in response to external sounds.
"If you've got something very highly tuned you can get resonance going on," Mr Bell told AAP.
"It's a bit like opening the lid of a piano and yelling in, you'll actually set the strings vibrating."
In the late 1970s scientists discovered that human ears made a constant noise, much like that of a bank of wind chimes.
"You can pick it up with a sensitive microphone that you place in the ear canal," Mr Bell explained.
"Why it happens has been a mystery ever since (it was discovered) but the idea that there's something resonating in there explains it."
Cells on the cochlea responded to external sound by "dancing" up and down on a thin membrane and producing what Mr Bell has termed "a squirting wave".
"It's like having three people dancing on a very thin floor, the floor's going to bounce up and down as well," he explained.
"The trick the cochlea uses is, the space under the floorboard is filled with water so the dancing will cause water to squirt in and out underneath.
"This fluid movement is bending tiny hair cells and that signal is sent to the brain, telling us there's a sound going on."
©AAP 2004
I just don't want to put any hopes or be misleading about the article -- although it's claiming that it could be a cure. :roll: It does sound interesting --
NO flaming in here, please! Just discuss rationally, please!
Thanks!
MOD - I wasn't sure where to put this -- in Deaf News part of Current Events or On-Topic debates. You decide where it's deemed appropriate.
Ta!
A revelation that the inner ear functions like a highly sensitive underwater piano could lead to cures for hearing loss and tinnitus.
Vibrating cells in the highly tuned cochlea of the inner ear produced their own sound in much the same way as a well-tuned piano resonated, Australian National University biological science PhD student Andrew Bell said.
The idea of the ear as a resonating instrument could one day yield treatments for a range of ear disorders, he said.
"It's going to have lots of implications," Mr Bell told AAP.
"Understanding the cochlea works this way will help find ways of preventing or overcoming deafness, it could help us understand why millions of people experience tinnitus - ringing in the ear - and could underpin efforts towards a cure for this affliction."
Mr Bell's research, published in the latest Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, was based on the idea that vibrating cells in the hairs of the cochlea vibrated in response to external sounds.
"If you've got something very highly tuned you can get resonance going on," Mr Bell told AAP.
"It's a bit like opening the lid of a piano and yelling in, you'll actually set the strings vibrating."
In the late 1970s scientists discovered that human ears made a constant noise, much like that of a bank of wind chimes.
"You can pick it up with a sensitive microphone that you place in the ear canal," Mr Bell explained.
"Why it happens has been a mystery ever since (it was discovered) but the idea that there's something resonating in there explains it."
Cells on the cochlea responded to external sound by "dancing" up and down on a thin membrane and producing what Mr Bell has termed "a squirting wave".
"It's like having three people dancing on a very thin floor, the floor's going to bounce up and down as well," he explained.
"The trick the cochlea uses is, the space under the floorboard is filled with water so the dancing will cause water to squirt in and out underneath.
"This fluid movement is bending tiny hair cells and that signal is sent to the brain, telling us there's a sound going on."
©AAP 2004
I just don't want to put any hopes or be misleading about the article -- although it's claiming that it could be a cure. :roll: It does sound interesting --
NO flaming in here, please! Just discuss rationally, please!
Thanks!MOD - I wasn't sure where to put this -- in Deaf News part of Current Events or On-Topic debates. You decide where it's deemed appropriate.
Ta!
