Spending more time in the dark could boost hearing in old age | Dana Smith

Hope for non-invasive treatment for age-related deafness as scientists find neurons can compensate for disability at any ageIn the Marvel Comic Daredevil our eponymous hero is the victim of a radioactive spill, leaving him blind but also with an extraordinary heightening of his other senses, particularly hearing.For Julie, her superhuman hearing isn't the result of radioactivity, but is instead due to the reorganisation of neurons in her brain, enhancing her sense of hearing after the loss of her sight at the age of 16.The cells in our brain are plastic, not static, meaning they can adapt and grow according to our experiences. So if one area of your brain is damaged, disrupting a certain process, other neurons in neighbouring regions will often take over, growing new projections or strengthening existing ones to pick up the slack. This has been most dramatically shown in children who have an entire hemisphere of their brain removed, usually to treat extreme cases of epilepsy. Miraculously, these children grow up to function almost entirely normally – walking, running, talking and thinking – going through school and even on to university as if nothing were out of the ordinary.Co-ordinated reorganisation between our auditory and visual areas is particularly efficient, and it is this type of cross-sensory plasticity that has led to tales of enhanced hearing and even extraordinary musical ability in individuals who are blind (Stevie Wonder, for example), the auditory pathway ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: theguardian.com United States Blogposts World news Health Deafness and hearing impairment Medical research & wellbeing Neuroscience Disability Life and style Source Type: news