Twelve years ago, UW researchers found that birds are capable of regenerating hair cells, the microscopic inner-ear cells that sense sounds and relay those sensations to the brain. Since then, researchers at the UW’s Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center have published more than 100 studies on hearing and hearing loss.

The center is named in memory of the hearing-impaired wife of the late Prentice Bloedel, who was founder and president of a major logging company. The center staff of more than 60—including 11 faculty members as well as postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and technicians—poses questions in both basic science and patient-oriented research. In addition, more than 50 UW faculty members from the School of Medicine and other units are affiliates of the Bloedel Center.

Dr. George Gates, director of the Bloedel Center and professor of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, studies age-related hearing loss, Meniere’s Disease, and cochlear implants. Dr. Edwin W. Rubel, professor of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, physiology and biophysics, and neurological surgery, specializes in auditory system development and hair-cell regeneration.

For the past five years Gates has served as head of the center’s annual citizen’s conference “Ears, Hearing and Beyond” presented at the UW Husky Union Building (HUB). In spring of 2001, more than 500 attendees from around the region received information on the latest A-to-Z of hearing loss research and treatment.

According to Gates, new research in age-related hearing loss is concentrating on strial presbycusis. The stria vascularis is a part of the inner ear that provides energy for the hair cells and presbycusis is the medical term for hearing loss occurring with advancing age. Strial presbycusis is the short-circuiting or wearing out of an electrical current in the inner ear. Hair cells rely on this current for normal function. This theory may explain why hearing aids, which supplement hair cell action, work so well.