Expert: Harriet B Jacobster, Au.D. - 6/9/2009

Question
My son, an officer in the U.S. Army, was injured and has 100% hearing loss in his left ear.  A stick went through his ear canal and, as we understand, damaged the cochlea and vestibule.  Prior to his operation, which was completed before we even knew about the injury, it was determined he had 80% hearing in the left ear.  This was before the stick was removed from the canal. Upon completion of the operation and rebuilding of the stapes, tests proved that he lost conductive and neurosensory hearing in the left ear...basically, he has a "dead ear".  The good side was that he was cleared of any chance of meningitis while under observation and care in the hospital. My question is, if he still has neurons intact in that ear, but his nerve hairs were destroyed during the removal of the stick...is there any chance for hearing to be restored in that ear?
I realize this is a brief explanation of the incident.  But the result of the operation was a surprise to him as he went into the operation with the ability to hear in that ear.  When he returns from his mission, I am sure he will want to keep up with research being done on hair cell regeneration and other methods for restoring hearing.  Thank you for your time.
Any websites(that you would recommend)that help us keep up with the latest research would be appreciated.  

Answer
Hi Nancy,
Yes, there is much research being done on hair cell regeneration, but it will be years before it can be made available to humans.

Has your son considered a Cochlear Implant?  They have made enormous progress in the CI and might be the best alternative at this time.

I am providing a website from the NIH.  They are the latest references to articles exploring the latest advances in stem cell and hair cell regeneration research: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&cmd=link&linkname=pubmed_pubm... The first listing appears to be especially helpful.

Hope this helps.
Harriet B. Jacobster, AuD
Board Certified in Audiology