People with DFNA2 hearing loss show increased touch sensitivity
Friday, December 9, 2011 - 11:02
in Health & Medicine
People with a certain form of inherited hearing loss have increased sensitivity to low frequency vibration, according to a study by Professor Thomas Jentsch of the Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP)/Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Professor Gary Lewin (MDC), conducted in cooperation with clinicians from Madrid, Spain and Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The research findings, which were published in Nature Neuroscience, reveal previously unknown relationships between hearing loss and touch sensitivity: In order to be able to 'feel', specialized cells in the skin must be tuned like instruments in an orchestra.