Why Can Birds Restore Their Hearing Yet We Cannot?

Why in the blue hell can birds restore their hearing hair cells but we cannot??

As human species we suck! If our hair cells could regenerate themselves we would never lose hearing and never suffer from stupid tinnitus and hyperacusis.

 

Well there is research ongoing to hopefully accomplish just that (Frequency Therapeutics for example). It just might happen.

 

Why can birds fly but we cannot?

 

Until an actual biologist chimes in... here's my uneducated guess

I suspect it has something to do with birds being exposed to loud sounds a lot more than mammals, and needing to hear these sounds should be important for their survival and reproduction. Possibly birds are exposed to a lot of wind noise while flying and have other birds chirping near their ears. They'd need to hear the warning calls of other birds, as well as the sounds predators make.

Mammals could apparently get their reproduction done with the 15.000 hair cells given at birth, so the ability to regenerate hair cells wasn't important to our survival. Why we lost the ability instead of keeping it, is probably just a matter of the DNA changes that led to us being us and matter of bad luck.

At least we have some other abilities that birds don't have. We can enjoy literature, art and science. We indulge in long-term creative projects and build all sorts of things from our imagination. We can have interesting conversations with other human beings, and connect on a much deeper level than birds can.

 

I really hope so!!

 

@Sam Bridge Actually I can fly

 

I was going to post the EXACT same response.

 

Birds have inhabited Earth since the Cretaceous period. This was over 60 million years ago. They've had millions of years to evolve and adapt to new situations. Humans have been here for a fraction of that time (supposedly 200k years).

On the bright side we are intelligent and do not have to wait up for evolution to solve our problems...fingers crossed.

 

Well my post was rhetorical and a way to vent, since almost everything can be fixed nowadays except for ears. Some ppl can get a new pair of eyes if they got a donor. A person can transition their gender, yet nothing can be done for ears. Maybe I should have mentioned that. @Tinker Bell @Sam Bridge

 

@Christokp However not intelligent enough to cure T&H. Highly disappointed.

 

I do agree with you, it seems crazy that medical science can achieve so many amazing things -- yet they can't figure out how to fix hairs in our ears. It is frustrating.

 

The fact they could hardly care less doesn't help.

 

I

Because in nature all that is superfluous it vanishes, darwin's law! For hundred thousands years the human being doesn't need to regenerate Hearings Cells simply because we do not undergoes such heavy loud sounds. Our ancient doesn't go to concerts and do not have i-pod . Maybe in dynosaurus era they would make so loud noise but it is another story, I guess the first cases of hearing loss and tinnitus appeared with ironworking but in that time they didn't have high frequencies sound like our car's brake or 100 W speakers! Maybe in the year 200000 D.C. We will be able to regenerate our HC but I suppose for that time a cure would be avaiable .
For birds is different because from the origin they stays in group attached each others making high frequencies twittering all time. Even if it is not so loud it is very near.
But do not worry we always learn from nature, just give time to the science

 

I've read somewhere that the hearing of mammals is much more sophisticated than of birds. Our range is better, their hearing is still underdeveloped and thus easier to fix.

 

I wonder if it's true that crows has a high intelligence and remember the people who feed them? I try to befriend a crow in the yard and try to show him/her that I want to build a bond haha

 

The reason is evolutionary in that birds (and other animals) need their hearing in order to survive whereas human beings don't.

Their ears are also less complex than the mammalian ones

 

All non mammalian vetebrates can regenerate cochlear hair cells not just the birds.

It might be true that animals that can regenerate hearing may be mediocre at it.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...tural-avian-bird-hair-cell-regeneration.29646

We'd still be prone to auditory nerve damage that contributes to hearing loss.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378595516302507

Who knows maybe early or primitive mammals had the ability to regenerate hearing