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| Dornhoffer presented Buchman (right) with the 2010 DRF Centurion Clinical Research Award in Boston. |
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| mouse cochlea viewed from the side with confocal microscope |
DRF Centurion Clinical Research Award
John L. Dornhoffer, M.D., Deafness Research Foundation (DRF) Centurion Secretary/Treasurer, presented the 2010 DRF Centurion Clinical Research Award to Craig A. Buchman, M.D., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical School. Buchman received a certificate at the CORE Awards Ceremony at the annual convention of the American Academy of OtolaryngologyHead and Neck Surgery, held September 28, 2010, in Boston.
Buchman's DRF-funded project is titled "Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder in Children." The project's primary goal is to facilitate appropriate intervention among children with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder, which affects about 10 percent of children with newly identified hearing loss. Buchman's research aims to identify functional biomarkers that can predict successful use of a particular intervention strategy, such as hearing aids or cochlear implants.
Don't Forget to GoodShop!
Whenever you shop online, you can help DRF. Before going directly to an online merchant, visit www.goodshop.com. Choose the online store you want to visit, then
select Deafness Research Foundation as your preferred charity. One more click takes you to the online store you originally planned to visit. With these simple extra steps, a percentage of your purchase will automatically be donated to DRF. More than 1,500 online retailers are GoodShop members, including Gap, Target, Toys R Us, Apple, Best Buy, Amazon.com, Macy's, Home Depot, Barnes and Noble, and Drugstore.com.
Safe and Sound
DRF is excited to announce a new program, Safe and Sound, which will launch this fall. As reported in this magazine's Fall 2010 issue, a recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed that one in five American teenagers has a hearing lossa statistic DRF wants to change.
DRF's educational efforts will include using this magazine to share important information about how to prevent noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) among young people. (See "Listen Up, Teens!" on page 14.) While DRF continues to distribute literature at public conferences and via its website, www.drf.org, Safe and Sound will focus on educating children and, through take-home materials, their parents.
What is safe and sound?
Safe and Sound is aimed at educating parents and preteens (age 10 to 13) about healthy noise levels and safe listening practices. By reaching students in this age group, DRF aims to help kids cultivate healthy listening practices before they develop bad habits. With a pilot program in schools throughout New York City, DRF's goal is to provide more than 25,000 parents and children with the knowledge and tools to prevent NIHL and facilitate a lifetime of healthy hearing.
Why an education program?
Every day we encounter noise in our environment, such as sounds from television and radio, household appliances, and traffic. Typically, we hear these sounds at safe levels that do not affect our hearing. When we are exposed to harmful noisesounds that are too loud or that last a long timesensitive structures called hair cells in our inner ear can be damaged, causing NIHL. Hair cells convert sound energy into electrical signals that travel to the brain. Once damaged, our hair cells cannot grow back. Hearing loss is permanent!
Because of personal music devices, mobile phones, and state-of-the-art headphones, children are often exposed to noises at harmful levels. Did you know that:
One in five teenagers suffers from hearing loss.
Being exposed to noise levels at 85 decibels (dB) or higher for a prolonged period of time increases the risk of hearing loss. The maximum level of a typical MP3 player is 105 dB.
There has been a 31 percent overall rise in the prevalence of hearing loss in teens aged 12 to 19 from 1994 to 2006.
Only 16 percent of teens and young adults reported learning anything related to the issue of hearing loss, and only 9 percent received this information through their schools.
Why new york city?
Recent studies have uncovered unhealthy noise levels throughout the city. In fact, 98 percent of noise measurements taken in New York City were at levels harmful to human health, including noise levels in subway stations, which may do permanent damage over time. Coupled with the unhealthy volume levels of personal music devices, New York City's school children are at higher risk for NIHL than many other populations. After tackling New York City, DRF hopes to roll out Safe and Sound in additional cities and communities in the near future.
The Hearing Restoration Initiative
Let's say you have a hearing loss. You know all of your options, right? Maybe you have a hearing aid. Maybe you've considered a cochlear implant, and you definitely have some assisted listening devices that help you live your life better. But what if there were another option, one you never dreamed possible?
In 2011, DRF will launch an inaugural marketing, awareness, and fundraising campaign called the Hearing Restoration Initiative (HRI). Its goals are to educate millions about hair cell regeneration, appeal to supporters of that research, and raise funds to implement it.
What is hair cell regeneration?
Hair cell regeneration is the cornerstone of the HRI. Hair cells (which are not like the hairs on our heads) exist inside the inner ear and enable us to receive sounds and transfer them into signals that travel to the brain. However, once a hair cell is damaged or dies, the hearing is permanently lost.
In 1986, former DRF grantee Douglas Cotanche, Ph.D., now at the Boston University School of Medicine, and Edwin Rubel, Ph.D., now at the University of Washington, separately discovered that the regeneration of inner ear hair cells in chickens occurs spontaneously and restores their hearing within 30 days. Since then, regenerative scientists have learned that most avian species share this trait, and significant advancements have been made to translate this knowledge to mammals.
While scientists don't yet know what molecules and genes are necessary to stimulate regeneration of hair cells in humans, it is clear that one day this will be possible. Based on present estimates it could take 50 years. DRF aims to shorten the time to clinical trials to 10 years.
Why launch the initiative now?
Thirty-six million American adults have significant hearing loss--nearly one in seven adults. The vast majority are not yet aware of the possibility of cell regeneration, and most have not yet made their hearing health a priority. The number of people with hearing loss is expected to double by 2030. In addition:
18 percent of American adults ages 45 to 64; 30 percent of adults ages 65 to 74; and 47 percent of adults 75 and older have a hearing impairment.
69 percent of deployed military service men and women have noise-induced hearing loss, tinnitus, and other hearing injuries. In fact, among veterans, "impairment of auditory activity" and "tinnitus" were ranked the first and second most common service-connected disabilities in 2006a 56 percent increase from 2002.
In addition to the implications for hearing health, DRF cell regeneration funding may advance treatments and cures for a wide range of diseases including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, spinal injury, stroke, Huntington's disease, and Parkinson's disease.
What is the current situation?
Right now there is no cure for the underlying cause of hearing loss: damage to the sensory and supporting cells of the inner ear, whether from noise exposure, trauma,
chemical toxins, medications, aging, disease, or genetic disorders.
Prevention of hearing loss is mainly limited to protection (such as ear plugs), and treatment is based on stimulating the remaining sensory cells (for example, hearing aids), or by stimulating the hearing nerve directly (such as cochlear implants).
But with new treatments on the horizon, proper funding could yield a cure for deafness and potentially many other diseases in just 10 years.
What is on the horizon?
Early this fall, DRF will bring the top researchers in the field together to talk directly to people invested in finding treatments and cures for hearing loss. Watch this space for updates about the event, including information about how to participate in person or online, and for a new, regular column about updates in regenerative research. For more updates about the initiative, subscribe to DRF's free monthly newsletter, Hearing Health E-News, at www.drf.org.
In the next few months, DRF will be working with other professional organizations to begin educating the public about the initiative. With your help, the HRI will become a reality, offering an amazing new option for hearing treatment.
