Dr Ruth Taylor's story

People in this video
Dr Mark Downs, Executive Director of Science and Enterprise
Dr Ruth Taylor, Research Fellow at The UCL Ear Institute

Mark Downs: Research at RNID has become really important over the last four or five years and especially the medical research we do and it has been tremendously exciting to have a grant programme which is helping some of the world's leading academics make real progress into understanding the causes of hearing loss and tinnitus. Here at the Ear Institute there is a great deal of work which has gone on, some with our support over the years and we are really starting to see the frontiers pushed back.

It is really important because for people with hearing loss there shouldn't just be the option of a medical device solution where you have a hearing aid, you really need to have alternatives moving forward so that you can see people's hearing gradually being restored over time, and that is why we support the sort of work we do.

Dr Ruth Taylor: Permanent deafness as a result of exposure to excessive noise, a small number of otherwise useful drugs or through ageing, results in the loss of the sound detecting cells within the inner ear. Loss of the hair cells results in changes in the epitheleum. Once lost, these cells aren't replaced and that is why the hearing loss is permanent.

With the support of RNID we are carrying out research into why sensory cells die and how best to prevent this. This knowledge will help identify procedures that will stop a mild to moderate hearing loss progressing into something more severe.

It is vital to understand the changes that occur to the tissue following damage if we want to be able to restore hearing in the future, either by stimulating the damaged inner ear to grow new sensory cells, or by transplanting new cells into the inner ear.

Mark Downs: One of the most exciting things that has happened this year is perhaps with our research group at the University of Antwerp, where they have been looking at the genetic basis of hearing loss and found some really interesting links between smoking, obesity and the level of hearing loss, and it transpires that actually if you’re someone who smokes, you’re not only putting your health at risk in terms of your heart and lungs, but you’re probably putting yourself at risk of losing your hearing as well.

As well as supporting world-class research to try and understand the basis of hearing loss and hopefully correct that hearing loss in the future for those people that want it. We also support a variety of training programmes and at any one time have at least six PhD students who are the scientists of the future, who are working on hearing loss through RNID grants and who we hope will have an enthusiasm and excitement about hearing loss – which will mean that when they move forward through their own careers, they will stay in the field and really contribute to our understanding of hearing.