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- EIN 73-1507929
- info@houghear.org
- (405) 639-2877
- 3400 NW 56th Street Suite A Oklahoma City OK 73112 USA
- http://houghear.org/
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- HoughEar
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Nonprofit Overview
Causes: Ear & Throat Diseases Research, Health
Mission: Hough Ear Institute is dedicated to restoring hearing worldwide through research, teaching, and humanitarian efforts.
Results: We are on the threshold of something potentially revolutionary, and we need your help to make it happen. Our team is working on a new project with inner ear sensory hair cell regeneration. Loss of inner ear sensory hair cells due to loud noise, aging and toxic medications is the leading cause of deafness affecting some 600 million people worldwide. Restoring these sensory hair cells with a regenerating medicine could restore hearing to many millions of those suffering from deafness. Regenerating these delicate inner ear sensory cells in the cochlea has been thought impossible by some, but in our lab, which is one of only a handful of labs working on this problem, we believe we have found a way to do it. The sensory hair cell regeneration project is the project we are most excited about and we feel has the most promise for helping the greatest number of people. This is exciting regenerative technology because it would make it possible to give the gift of hearing to people with a simple visit to their physician. It could be effective for many causes of noise induced hearing loss in patients with even long standing hearing loss. It would eliminate the need for major surgery and for some, even their hearing aids would no longer be needed. This would make a huge difference for those experiencing hearing loss in third world countries who find hearing aids and batteries difficult to procure. Our research is based on results in the lab. When the experiments give the desired results and hearing is restored in the lab, we know we are working in the right direction, and we have successfully regenerated inner ear hair cells in mammals.
Target demographics: restore hearing worldwide
Geographic areas served: Oklahoma City
Programs: research, teaching, and humanitarian efforts.