For the first two weeks of life, mice with a hereditary form of deafness have nearly normal neural activity in the auditory system, according to a new study. Previous studies indicate that this early ...

Proteins long known to be essential for hearing have been hiding a talent: they also act as gatekeepers that shuffle fatty molecules across cell membranes. When this newly discovered function goes ...

Researchers at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders have identified a previously unknown mechanism that destroys the sensory hair cells of the inner ear, a discovery ...

image: Left: The organ of Corti from a normal (control) mouse. The hair cells and their support cells are lined up in an alternating, checkerboard-like pattern. Right: The organ of Corti from a nectin ...

The human middle ear—which houses three tiny, vibrating bones—is key to transporting sound vibrations into the inner ear, where they become nerve impulses that allow us to hear. Embryonic and fossil ...

Two major groups of bats that use echolocation have different structures for connecting the inner ear to the brain, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Chicago, the American ...

Researchers have identified a previously unknown mechanism that drives the death of inner ear hair cells, the tiny sensory structures responsible for converting sound into brain signals. The discovery ...