Poll: Interested in the search for hearing loss cure? (e.g. stem cell, biomedical)

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

Once a cure is proven effective and easily treatable on the treatment for hearing loss in babies I can guarantee you hearing parents will make the run and ensure their babies become fully hearing. That day WILL come. It's a matter of when.

And why does everyone continue to act as if that day will be tomorrow? When that day come, it will come. It just seems counter-productive to me to preach about the future when everything comes in steps.

Rater than implicating and brooding about the future, why not try to help the people of today? The social stigma of deafness and hard-of-hearing will not change until they manage to regrow an entire cochlea in a petri dish and fix all the other associated causes of deafness.

Regrowing stereocilia is great, but that is only the first step-- and the discrimination facing the mild to severe-moderate are different the treatment of those that are severe to profound. Believe me, I rather be treated like I am dumb because I don't understand people over being treated like a mentally retarded person because I don't have 100% word recongition.

So yeah it is a "matter of when," but the socio-economical problems won't go away until they figure out how to bring everyone up to speed.

 

[purplecatty]

I say YES!

I'm looking forward for medical technology that I don't have to use BATTERIES to power to hear thing!!! That's something I wanted..

One drawback are that if nerve regrow on Cochlea, It won't be 100% hearing gain. It would probably partial or some if not all. It would take a long while until you can hear fully but not the same what hearing people hears them all their lives. It's like colorblind people can see but not what they see in color which normal people can see.

Catty

 

[SkullChick]

I say no, i love the ability to turn hearing off anytime anyday too much to vote yes to cure the hearing loss, its godsend when i have migraine i can just pop coil off close my eyes or hang in dark room until 3 extra strength tylenol pill with flexeril (tension migraine) it usually only take 20-30 min to get good amount of relief and stay deaf for the day and im good as new next day

 

[Watermelon]

I don't like the word "cure" as in "cure deafness" or "cure hearing loss". That implies that deafness/hearing loss is a disease, while it is not. It is merely a circumstance in which a person cannot hear, or in the case of hard of hearing: cannot hear well. The "disease" is something else that may have caused the hearing loss, such as: loud noises, viral or bacterial infection. Using an extreme case, would you call "death" a disease? I wouldn't. But there are diseases which leads to death, such as "heart disease". But the analogy is that both hearing loss and death are end results while disease is something else that causes the end result.

The medical advances in which aids, supplements, restores, or repairs hearing loss are interesting to read about, and may be of benefit. However, they would need to be understood before they can be useful.

I do admit that I do wonder what life would be like if I were hearing. Certainly, easier on the phone. That is for sure.

 

[Chuck]

If it's not an impairment, what is the function of one's ears if one is completely deaf?

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

If it's not an impairment, what is the function of one's ears if one is completely deaf?

No one want to date a person with no earlobes. Holes in the side of your head is creepy! Unless you are a reptile or a bird, then of course you would be attracted to that!

Plus, if you can tell if you are developing hypothermia or not if all the sudden they drop off...

 

[Watermelon]

If it's not an impairment, what is the function of one's ears if one is completely deaf?

I'm not sure if that was in response to me, but if it was, I didn't say it wasn't an impairment. I just said it wasn't a disease. Hearing loss is as much of a disease as a loss of one's limbs. Being without an arm doesn't mean that you are diseased. "Curing" hearing loss only made as much sense as "curing" an arm loss. Repairing or restoring hearing or an arm makes more sense.

Also, ears are handy places to rest glasses' "ear hooks".

 

[Chuck]

I'm not sure if that was in response to me, but if it was, I didn't say it wasn't an impairment. I just said it wasn't a disease. Hearing loss is as much of a disease as a loss of one's limbs. Being without an arm doesn't mean that you are diseased. "Curing" hearing loss only made as much sense as "curing" an arm loss. Repairing or restoring hearing or an arm makes more sense.

Also, ears are handy places to rest glasses' "ear hooks".

Ive made this argument in another thread or maybe it was this one? lol....but I said what if they had surgery or the stem cell research matured enough that it fixed nerves and enabled your hearing?

The equivalent of curing an arm loss would be growing one with your own cells, dna and all that mumbo jumbo, do you think some of people without arms would band together and be opposed to it, be happy without arms or fine with their prosthetics? I guarantee you the amount of folk that would go for the stem cells would be in the high 90th percentile.

 

[dreama]

No, I will believe it when I see it. Who knows? Maybe when sound pollution gets worse being deaf will become something desirable in the future?

 

[AlleyCat]

I can't see ever wanting to wish being deaf on someone else, or for someone to desire being deaf. Not when I've lived it my whole life.

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

I can't see ever wanting to wish being deaf on someone else, or for someone to desire being deaf. Not when I've lived it my whole life.

Some people have sensory issues, like me, who do wish to go completely deaf. However I am not in the mindset to have self-inflicted deafness. I know of a few others that don't tolerate noises as well, and wear earplugs to make life more bearable for them. I don't wear earplugs of course.

I can see where dreama is coming from. I once dealt with a guy in dorm that went a bit nuts after he was at a concert for about five hours or more straight and he wanted the tinnitus to stop. However... noise pollutions? That's interesting. I can see sensitive folks succumbing to such options, but you would think that the government would start regulating noise pollution before people start opting for mild or moderate hearing loss.

 

[Watermelon]

Ive made this argument in another thread or maybe it was this one? lol....but I said what if they had surgery or the stem cell research matured enough that it fixed nerves and enabled your hearing?

The equivalent of curing an arm loss would be growing one with your own cells, dna and all that mumbo jumbo, do you think some of people without arms would band together and be opposed to it, be happy without arms or fine with their prosthetics? I guarantee you the amount of folk that would go for the stem cells would be in the high 90th percentile.

I never said I was against stem cells and "mumbo jumbo." In a nutshell, I said it was interesting and would like to see where it goes. We're pretty much on the same page there.

I would say the arm regrowth analogy would be more of repairing or restoring. Having prosthetics would be aiding. But anyway, it's just words, each to to their own. At least we understand the original concept behind the words and the meaning, and that is the important thing. Like the song goes: To-may-to, to-mah-to...

 

[deafdude1]

No, I will believe it when I see it. Who knows? Maybe when sound pollution gets worse being deaf will become something desirable in the future?

Then live in a town or in the suburbs away from the large, noisy city. Or just wear earplugs? It's the same as saying being blind is desirable because of the light pollution :roll: just wear sunglasses!

 

[Chuck]

I never said I was against stem cells and "mumbo jumbo." In a nutshell, I said it was interesting and would like to see where it goes. We're pretty much on the same page there.

I would say the arm regrowth analogy would be more of repairing or restoring. Having prosthetics would be aiding. But anyway, it's just words, each to to their own. At least we understand the original concept behind the words and the meaning, and that is the important thing. Like the song goes: To-may-to, to-mah-to...

Yeah. It would be interesting. I'm really interested in the development of it.