New hope for the hard of hearing?

[MillCreek]

Speaking as someone who has had a significant bilateral hearing loss since birth, I will be following this: https://scitechdaily.com/mit-scientists-develop-new-regenerative-drug-that-reverses-hearing-loss/

[Devonai]

Interesting.  Despite being required to get hearing tests annually, and scoring as well as I did at MEPS back in 2005, I can't hear for beans in a noisy environment.  Heck, even a fan on high in the room will drown out the voice of a person next to me.  I have to wonder if such a treatment would help.

[Grandpa Shooter]

My dollars say the invention will be bought up and shelved by the people who sell hearing aids and amplifiers.  I get evaluated for a cochlear implant next month.
 

[Boomhauer]

Interesting.  Despite being required to get hearing tests annually, and scoring as well as I did at MEPS back in 2005, I can't hear for beans in a noisy environment.  Heck, even a fan on high in the room will drown out the voice of a person next to me.  I have to wonder if such a treatment would help.

Most men can’t.

I test perfectly on hearing but background noise wipes it out, and I absolutely hate talking on a phone.

[RoadKingLarry]

I've got a moderate to bad high frequency loss. Except for the tinnitus, I can "hear" that.
Causes some problems talking to little kids, sometimes have a hard time understanding them. My wife also has a relatively high pitched voice and don't always hear her but she just blames me for ignoring her.

[T.O.M.]

I've got a good ear and a bad ear.  I'm right handed.  My bad ear is my left, the one closer to the muzzle of long guns I shoot.  My doc, who is a shooter, says this is not at all uncommon, especially among us older guys who may not have used ear pro every time in our youth (never used it with a .22 outside as a kid).  A medication that could help this would be interesting.

[K Frame]

WHAT? CAN YOU SPEAK UP?

[Viking]

Would this also cure tinnitus? Tired of the eeeeeeeeeeeee.

[JTHunter]

About 20 years ago, the company I was working at then had one of those mobile test trailers come everybody.  The results showed that I had about a 10% reduction in the "mid-tonal frequencies", the area of most human speech.
The testers felt that is was from shotgun blasts without protection when I hunt.  The strange thing is that, like T.O.M., I'm right-handed too and it is my right ear that is worse. 
Thje good thing is that I could now point out to certain family members that when I say I didn't hear them, I meant it ! 

[HeroHog]

Would this also cure tinnitus? Tired of the eeeeeeeeeeeee.

Mine sounds like a summer swamp, ya know, bugs buzzing, frogs trilling, crickets. I still hear well but I'm always "out in the swamp".

[Devonai]

Are you sure you're not a seven-foot-tall green ogre?

[Brad Johnson]

My hearing falls off a cliff at high frequencies. Combine that with acute bilateral tinnitus and little beeps and squeaks might as well not exist for me, stuff like battery-powered smoke detectors, the continuity beep on a multimeter, etc.. I don't hear them unless the environment is dead quiet.

I'm in the same camp as above with background noise. Any at all and I lose details, especially if someone is speaking to me. I'm fine if I can see their mouth. Otherwise, bupkis. SWMBO double-hates it because she not only has a soft voice, she's one of those people who speaks up by speaking softer (more intensity, but as an almost-whisper). It's extra bad when we're traveling, what with road noise and having to keep my eyes on the road.

Weird thing is, if everything is quiet, I have extremely sensitive mid-and low-frequency hearing. I can hear our washing machine indicator from out in the yard or understand a spoken conversation from across the room. But, again, it has to be quiet. Any background noise, even the rustling of leaves, and it's game over.

Brad

[Ben]

Most men can’t.

I test perfectly on hearing but background noise wipes it out, and I absolutely hate talking on a phone.

Add me to that list. I actually still have darn good hearing in a quiet environment, but background noise kills it right off - especially in the female voice range. I always have to ask women to repeat themselves in any environment with even a bit of background noise.