The future of hearing loss
The Future of Everything
Practical Tips for Hearing Loss Prevention
This chapter offers practical strategies for preventing hearing loss, emphasizing the need for hearing protection and a healthy lifestyle. The speaker shares tips on earplugs, supplements, and diet to help mitigate noise-related damage.
Physician Tina Stankovic is an ear, nose, and throat specialist and a lover of music whose seemingly disparate pursuits — medicine and music — have led her to a groundbreaking career in hearing research. She recently worked with music legend Paul Simon during his well-publicized battle with hearing loss and he has become a vocal advocate for hearing research. New understandings and new approaches like regenerative medicine have put the once-impossible dream of hearing restoration within reach, Stankovic tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.
Have a question for Russ? Send it our way in writing or via voice memo, and it might be featured on an upcoming episode. Please introduce yourself, let us know where you're listening from, and share your question. You can send questions to thefutureofeverything@stanford.edu.
Episode Reference Links:
- Stanford Profile: Konstantina M. Stankovic
- Stanford Researchers Assist Paul Simon with his Return to the Stage
- Inside the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss: Cutting-Edge Science and Innovation
Connect With Us:
- Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything Website
- Connect with Russ >>> Threads / Bluesky / Mastodon
- Connect with School of Engineering >>> Twitter/X / Instagram / LinkedIn / Facebook
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Introduction
Russ Altman introduces guest Tina Stankovic, a professor of otolaryngology and neurosurgery at Stanford University.
(00:03:36) Why Hearing Loss
What inspired Tina’s lifelong journey into hearing science.
(00:04:17) Treating Hearing Loss
Limits of current options and lack of FDA-approved therapies.
(00:05:23) Causes of Hearing Loss
The two main categories of hearing loss: conductive vs. sensorineural.
(00:07:47) Inside the Inner Ear
The complexity of the inner ear, and why diagnosis is so difficult.
(00:09:22) Tinnitus & Hearing Loss
Why ear damage can cause phantom sounds in the brain.
(00:10:28) Emerging Technologies in Hearing Research
New technologies that are evolving treatment approaches.
(00:15:19) Recreating the Ear in the Lab
Challenges the inner ear’s unique composition pose to researchers.
(00:20:02) AI Applications in Hearing Diagnosis
The ways AI is transforming diagnosis and genetic analysis.
(00:21:31) Can Ears Regrow?
Why humans don’t regenerate ear cells—but mice might help.
(00:23:55) Emotional & Social Toll of Hearing Loss
How hearing loss can lead to isolation, stigma, and cognitive decline.
(00:26:06) Born Deaf vs. Later Hearing Loss
Experiential differences between those with early and late hearing loss.
(00:27:52) Paul Simon’s Role and Advocacy
How the artist got involved with Tina’s work and the initiative at Stanford.
(00:29:44) Protecting Your Hearing
Best practices for protecting your hearing.
(00:33:21) Conclusion
Connect With Us:
Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything Website
Connect with Russ >>> Threads / Bluesky / Mastodon
Connect with School of Engineering >>>Twitter/X / Instagram / LinkedIn / Facebook
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