How do you know that these new hair cells will function as "normal" hearing cells do? What if they are as damaged or broken as the ones you were born with? What if they work for awhile and then die off? We don`t know what will happen, because there has been no testing and no follow up.
Plus, Deafdude, why do you think your brain will be able to handle this, new, sudden hearing? You have been profoundly deaf since birth, your brain has never heard these things. I think that would make you a very bad candidate!
The new hair cells actually aren't as good as "normal" but they are certainly better than no hair cells. I am missing all my OHC and some of my IHC in the lows and nearly all my IHC in the mids and highs. The pioneers are going ahead today with stem cells. We will have plenty of follow up news on their progress of stem cells.
I find it ironic you think ill do better with CI, yet you think stem cells won't work for me. CI has worked for many who were born deaf, stem cells won't be any different as far as the brain getting used to the new sounds. Besides I heard most sounds and some speech as I was fitted at 4 months old with the best analog HAs with the gains maxed out. I still had some high frequency hearing as well. I have prior auditory memory of most sounds and some speech. I give it a few months before I adjust to the new sounds.
Oh sure, I am interested to know about the stem cells. I'm sure that many deafies want one, too.
My family and friends(all hearing) fully support stem cells for me and if they lost their hearing, they would get stem cells themselves asap to give at least some of the hearing back that they lost. Right now, most culturally Deaf are against stem cells. Itll take time for them to accept stem cells just like it did for CI. Many of the Deaf who were against CI are no longer against CI or they are even pro CI. Some of them have gotten CI themselves.
It's true that it's unusual for a prelingually deaf to be interested in stem cells. But then, most prelingually deaf are involved in deaf culture, relay on sign language, don't consider sound/speech to be important and are proud to be Deaf. They don't need/want a fix, not even CI. I respect their choice and they should respect our choice.
Stem cells will be very popular for deaf babies born to hearing parents, late deafened postlinguals and prelingual deaf who have never been involved in deaf culture, don't know any ASL and are 100% oral. We live in the hearing world and improving our hearing would make it easier for us to interact in the hearing world. Cochlear implants have been very popular for those group of people and I expect stem cells to follow.
The same question can be asked...why are some people obessed with CIs? Some people are just interested in Stem Cells, some are interested in CIs and some arent interested in hearing at all.
Exactly. Life is all about choices. You aren't interested in hearing at all and that's your choice. I am interested in stem cells for many good reasons which ive mentioned in my blog and in other posts.
It's a topic that some people like to read up on and discuss since the stem cells field is a rapidly growing field that will have many applications. This one here happens to be on nerve deafness. And certainly there are caveats here and things are to be taken with a grain of salt until we see more firmer results that can be verified and repeated.
Stem cells will be able to improve or even cure most diseases/ailments/disabilities. I am very excited for stem cells in general as this means a very long, healthy life for most of us. Having my hearing improved is just one of many things stem cells can do for me, my family and friends.
I find stem cell stuff interesting, and I have been quietly following this thread, too. I don't have high hopes that a break through is around the corner, but I think it is great to know that stem cell research is progressing.
If you define a breakthru as stem cells being able to restore hearing to 25db, I predict this will take 15 years. Stem cells today can give a 20db improvement. When I get stem cells a few years from now, I should get around a 30db improvement. Ill be moderately-severely HOH. Ill be getting additional stem cell treatments as stem cell technology improves.
Once more people follow Chloe in getting stem cells, I am next in line.