Noise-induced hearing loss has also been a huge problem in combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The most common form of hearing loss is caused by the death of cochlear hair cells in ...

Hair cells are highly specialized cells, attached to be basement membrane in the organ of corti within the cochlea. They have hair-like protrusions (stereocilia) embedded in the tectorial membrane.

Top: Rows of healthy sensory hair cells in the mouse inner ear with green stereocilia arcs. Middle: In Rest mutant mice, hair cells are disorganized, and stereocilia barely visible. Bottom ...

The presence of two types of hair cells, the inner and outer hair cells, in the organ of Corti was appreciated nearly a 100 years ago but the function of the two has only become clear in the last 20 ...