If I were to address the underlying auditory dynamics, my first concern would
be sorting out the bilateral topology... I didn't get into it be-cause the
original post was too-ill-defined to work with... so I just dealt with the
general Q. ken collins
K C Cheng wrote:
> ken collins wrote:
> I'll not reply directly to your symptoms, but, yes, central neurons die
> due
> to lack of stimulation. Neural trophy is activation-dependent... if it
> were
> not, experience would "make no difference", and "Learning" would be
> "impossible". We'd all be automatons (=mpletely=, not "almost", as has
> been the case over the course of the millenia). ken collins
>>crowley9 at ix.netcom.com wrote:
>> > Hi there. I had a head injury about 5 weeks ago and lost about 75% to
> > 80% hearing in my right ear. The ENT doc told me the hearing loss was
> > conductive hearing loss instead of hearing loss caused by damage to the
> > nervous system. He said that it would not be a big deal to have surgery
> > and fix the ossicle bones (where he thinks the problem is). I am
> > leaning towards waiting about a year or so to see if the problem
> > resolves itself (based on info obtained from someone else under similar
> > circumstances and from a book on hearing loss) instead of going under
> > the knife now. What I'd like to know is will waiting a year or so hurt
> > the nerve cells since the amount of hearing stimulation they are getting
> > in that ear is quite low ("use it or lose it")? Or should I get the
> > bones fixed now so that the nerve cells get lots more stimulation and
> > thus not die in a year or so? When I pick up the phone and listen to
> > the dial tone in the bad ear, I can barely hear it (loudness intensity
> > is about 20% of the other ear) so there is a little bit reaching the
> > nerves in that ear but not much. Anyway *any* input at all on this
> > would really be appreciated. Thanks so much!
> >
> > Bill
>> Re above:
> Ken Collins is of course quite right. But if he keeps himself otherwise
> mentally active so that his auditory cortical neurons would be
> stimulated by other activities than simple hearing itself, perhaps there
> would be no central neuron atrophy.
> Also, in the case of hearing, it is usual for aging people to lose their
> high reguqnecy discrimination due to loss of those hair cells on those
> portions of the inner ear basilar membrane resonating to high
> frequencies. Therefore, in his case, for one ear to rest for a year
> would not be a loss.
> --
> kccheng ¾G«a¸s
>http://www.easyhosting.com/~kccheng
