An English scientist has discovered a method to detect the sound frequencies that children cannot hear, which can aid in restoring their hearing.
Dr. Karolina Kluk, a PhD researcher at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, has developed an experiment to identify the “dead zone” in children’s hearing. This involves testing brain wave responses to different sound frequencies while the subjects are asleep. She has also applied this auditory brain testing on adults.
We know that hair cells in the ear vibrate in response to sound waves to recognize speech, activating the auditory nerve to transmit signals to the “hearing area” in the brain. Both adults and children with hearing loss are unable to hear sounds at certain frequencies, whether high, low, or both. This is due to the presence of a “dead zone” in the inner ear, where the hair cells responsible for sound detection are either non-functional or dead.
Hearing assistance devices include amplifiers that transmit all sounds to the inner ear. Audiology experts indicate that these devices will work more effectively if the exact location of the “dead zone” in the patient can be accurately identified.
Dr. Kluk is currently at the University of Toronto in Canada, collaborating with Professor Terence Picton to compare standard auditory tests with biological-electronic experiments on hearing.
Once the assessments are complete, she will return to Cambridge to apply the experiments on children. She emphasizes that early detection of hearing impairment in children will facilitate the provision of hearing aids or cochlear implants if necessary.
KHANG LINH
