Bluetooth Headsets & Hearing Aids. Using silk to repair eardrums – Life Lines. Drug Stimulates Regeneration of Sound-Sensing Hair Cells and Partial Recovery of Hearing in Deaf Mice. Listen up, live music fans. The hearing loss caused by exposure to loud noise can be at least partially reversed with drugs, according to a study published by U.S. and Japanese researchers last week in the journal Neuron. The work is the first proof that a drug can spur regeneration of the mammalian ear’s sound-detecting hair cells, which can be damaged by noise exposure. While the hair cells of some animals, such as birds, can regenerate on their own, the hair cells of humans and other mammals cannot.
The cells may be damaged by infection or as a side effect of certain drugs as well as after exposure to loud noises. Previous research has hinted that gene therapy might be able to induce regeneration in the adult mammalian ear. The drug used in the study inhibits the activity of a protein called Notch, which Edge’s lab and others had previously shown prevents supporting cells from turning into hair cells. Starkey Hearing Foundation | So the World May Hear. Acoustic System :: NTT DoCoMo's Sound Leaf+ ready to conduct a bone near you. Remember the Sound Leaf? Unless you live in Japan, there's a very good chance you don't, so let us refresh your memory: it's a rather interesting Bluetooth device that looks a bit like a miniature handset and functions as a bone-conduction receiver for taking calls in noisy environments.
It's a cool idea -- Bluetooth headsets are very, very rarely as loud for the wearer or as noise-free for the person on the other end of the call as they should be -- but for whatever reason, the technology really hasn't taken off in full force. Again, that's unless you're in Japan -- because NTT DoCoMo's just released the Sound Leaf+, a new take on the original that looks almost exactly the same but trades an all-white color scheme for a more in-your-face black getup and apparently features improved reception.
It'll go for about 15 hours on a pair of AAA batteries, and the mouthpiece folds conveniently away when not in use. [Via Slashphone] Comments. Waterproof MP3 Player uses Bone Conduction Tech. November 2, 2004 A waterproof SwiMP3 player that uses bond conduction technology has been released for swimmers, triathletes, surfers and anyone who wants to listen to music whilst in the water. The SwiMP3 player comes from Finis, Inc., founded in 1993 by Olympic Gold Medalist Pablo Morales and John Mix. Unlike other waterproof players that rely on traditional air conduction technologies, often producing a muffled sound, the SwiMP3 player uses bone conduction (the direct transfer of sound vibrations from the cheek bone to the inner ear) to provide the swimmer with exceptional sound clarity.
Bone conduction hearing is a safe, well-established hearing mechanism in humans that the SwiMP3 player leverages to enhance aquatic activity. The SwiMP3 player is fully waterproof and can be used with all competitive swim strokes. It holds approximately 30 songs for four hours of continuous music. "This is a revolutionary step forward for aquatic athletes," said John Mix, President of Finis, Inc.