Cochlear Implant and Stem Cell

Recently there has a been a few discussions on cochlear implant and stem cell. One of the notion going around seems to be a chorus of agreements that it is better to wait until stem cell can be used to restore hearing loss rather than commit to a cochlear implant. The reason for this is because the cochlear implant damages the nerves of the cochlea thereby rendering any future nerve restoration "impossible."

Well, people need to learn not to say the word "impossible" in a world where medical science has making the "impossible" to possible.

The thing is that new discoveries are being made everyday. Including the discovery that the cochlea itself holds a reservoir of "cochlea stem cells."

These researchers have isolated “cochlear stem cells” located in the inner ear and already primed for development into ear-related tissue due to their proximity to the ear and expression of certain genes necessary for the development of hearing.
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The team’s research is a major step in devising a therapy to reverse permanent hearing loss because it may lead to the activation of cochlear stem cells in the inner ear to regenerate new hair cells.

And this was a relatively recent discovery mentioned in an article a few months ago. So, whatever damage to the ear cochlear stem cells should have the capacity to reverse hearing loss completely. So, why worry about the "effects" of a cochlear implant has on the cochlea when in the future your own cochlea stem cells could very well help restore your hearing? You know the old saying, "Heal thy self?"

Now, it may be a decade or two away until a procedure is perfected for humans. Meanwhile, go ahead with the cochlear implant but be sure that you are fully informed before making a decision. Although I am banking that stem cell research in this area and the increasing number of researchers joining this potentially lucrative field will surely speed things up so that many/most kinds of hearing loss will one day be restored and/or cured.

Here are some interesting links to read up on.

Risky Enough Business? (a cochlear implant wearer) - "Had I lost the rest of my hearing in 1981 instead of 2001, my life as I had known it would have been over."

Tiny implant shows promise for deaf - "An ultra-thin electrode planted in the auditory nerve of the ear may one day offer a superior alternative to cochlear implants for the deaf, researchers say."