According to the WHO reports, hearing loss affects more than 400 million people worldwide. Age and environmental factors are considered to be responsible for the loss of hearing. Excessive exposure to loud noise can damage the cochlea, resulting in permanent hearing loss. Unfortunately, unlike animals, humans are unable to reverse the effects of hearing loss. Earlier in 2012, researchers from the University of Rochester and Massachusetts identified a group of receptors responsible for regenerating sensory hair cells found in the cochlea.
They named these cells as the epidermal growth factor, or EGF, which switches on support cells in the auditory system of birds. These support cells initiate the production of new sensory hair cells. In a recent study conducted in mice, researchers tried to recreate similar process in mammals. They found that activating a specific receptor called ERBB2,…
