Feedback System Protects Inner Ear

Rock 'n' roll sounds best turned up loud, but as hundreds of aging rockers (and millions of their aging fans) are discovering, the cost of all that glorious noise is hearing loss and tinnitus. And it's not just loud music—our ears are daily assaulted by the roar of the jet engine, the shriek of the power tool, the blare of the car horn, and the pounding of the jackhammer. In most cases, it seems that our only protection is to close the window or cover our ears. But, according to new research by Taranda et al., it turns out we have another, quite ancient defense against these modern assaults—a way to turn down the noise is wired right into our hearing systems. While the discovery can't bring back your lost hearing, it may lead to ways to better protect what you have left. To understand the discovery, it helps to remember how the ear processes sound. Pressure waves in the air vibrate the ear drum, pushing and pulling on three tiny bones just beyond them, which transmit these vibrations to fluid within the spiral-shaped cochlea. That fluid lies atop a sheet of cells, and the fluid's motion distorts cilia (hairs), which protrude from the tips of those cells. The cells are of two kinds, called inner and outer hair cells. Inner hair cells are connected to the neurons of the auditory nerve, and when cilia on inner hair cells are distorted, they trigger those neurons to fire. These neuronal signals travel to the brain, and we hear the music. Outer hair cells have a different function, based on a property unique to them: When their cilia are distorted by fluid vibrations, the cells elongate and shorten in length. Because they are attached to one side of the fluid chamber, their movements amplify the very vibration that set them in motion, increasing the sensitivity of the hearing apparatus, especially to the softest sounds. Outer hair cells have another curious property. They, too, make contact with neurons, but they don't send messages—they receive them from the brain. These incoming neurons fire in response to loud noises, releasing the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. This molecule binds to receptors on the outer hair cells, reducing their ability to change in length, thereby diminishing fluid vibration and cochlear amplification. The existence of this auditory feedback loop has been known for decades, and its cellular mechanisms for several …