Why can’t hearing cells regenerate? Since it seems like virtually every other cell can.
In: 58
The problem isn’t the cells, it’s the hairs. Your hearing sensors are tiny little hairs connected to nerves. For hopefully obvious reasons, you don’t want your inner ear filling with hair so they grow to the length they need to be then stop.
If you damage the hairs by exposure to sound that’s too loud, they’re broken & gone. And they don’t regrow because that ability never turned “on” in humans. Presumably there’s very little evolutionary pressure…losing your hearing in middle/late life doesn’t really impact your ability to procreate.
Edit: clarified that the inner ear hair cells aren’t hair like on your head and aren’t dead, but don’t regrow. See /u/TeeDeeArt’s comment for details.
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