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For the first two weeks of life, mice with a hereditary form of deafness have nearly normal neural activity in the auditory system, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists. Their previous studies indicate that this early auditory activity — before the onset of hearing — provides a kind of training to prepare the brain to process sound when hearing begins.
A new study looking at the brain activity of mice is hoping to shed some light on why some people's hearing starts to go as they grow older.
In experiments, old mice were less capable than young mice of "turning off" certain actively firing brain cells in the midst of ambient noise.
More research is needed to precisely map the connection between the inability to shut off certain neurons and hearing loss amid ambient sound.
Fri, 12 Feb 2021 07:38 UTC © Getty ImagesScientists have yet to answer the age-old question of whether or how sound shapes the minds of fetuses in the womb, and expectant mothers often wonder about the benefits of such activities as playing music during pregnancy. Now, in experiments in newborn mice, scientists at Johns Hopkins report that sounds appear to change "wiring" patterns in areas of the brain that process sound earlier than scientists assumed and even before the ear canal opens. Scientists have yet to answer the age-old question of whether or how sound shapes the minds of fetuses ...