A team at the University of Sheffield said on Thursday they had discovered how to turn stem cells into ones that behave like sensory hair cells or auditory neurons, which could then be surgically inserted into the ear to restore lost hearing. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

San Jose police are to begin using high tech sound wave weapons that are designed to disperse crowds by firing concentrated beams of sound at 150 decibels, causing intense pain and possible deafness. What's good enough to force a terrorist out of a cave is good enough to make you fall into line! picked by TraumaMamma 2 years ago

Sonar can temporarily deafen dolphins, a new study has found, suggesting that mass strandings of cetaceans could be caused by military activities. picked by bingo 7 months ago

RNID has made a statement that deaf people should be able to select an embryo that will be born deaf and throw out ones that would be able to hear. RNID does not speak for all deaf people and some are saying that the statement is taken out of context. That they want the right to implant embryos that are deaf when that is the only viable embryo. picked by 2manyusernames 2 years ago

Measure the frequency response of your own ears. This flash script allows you to play sound files with a range of frequencies and sound levels with the click of a mouse and create a line graph based on what you hear. picked by ogri2003 3 years ago

Wasabi, or Japanese Horseradish, has a particularly pungent taste and scent. Now researchers in Japan are using Wasabi's overpowering odor in a new type of smoke detector / fire alarm that wakes the deaf through scent instead of sound. picked by Mitzuzake 2 years ago

Scientists have used gene therapy on mouse embryos to grow hair cells with the potential to reduce hearing loss in adult animals. The proof-of-concept experiments are a crucial step toward therapies that could one day treat deafness and inner-ear disease in humans. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his idiosyncratic fingerpicking style, which draws on blues, jazz, and folk music influences, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies. Kottke has overcome a series of personal obstacles including partial deafness and a nearly career-ending bout with tendon damage to emerge as a widely-recognized master of his instrument. picked by 2manyusernames 2 years ago

Blindness might even be an advantage for a musician, but deafness? Steve DiCesare of Wide Mouth Grin has slowly been losing his hearing for years, and hasn't been able to listen to music since the 80's, yet still manages to produce good music. picked by dokrider 8 months ago

To some parents with disabilities, selecting embryos with genetic defects like deafness or dwarfism isn't an ethical dilemma, it just means having children like themselves. And a recent survey of U.S. clinics that offer embryo screening suggests it’s already happening. picked by VooDooPeacock 2 years ago