Genetics of Hearing Loss Pilot Grace Wilcox 9/27/17 Your genes are what contain the instructions to tell your cells how to grow and work. They determine what color your eye's are or what color your skin is. When a gene forms the wrong way, it's called a mutation. Some mutations will run in families which is called “familial” and when it does not run in families it's called “sporadic”. About 50% to 60% of hearing loss in babies are due to hereditary causes. Another 25% is due to environmental causes like contracting an infection while in the womb or complications when the baby is young. If you have a certain mutation in your genes you're more likely to develop a hearing loss from some medicine’s. The cochlea is the part of the brain that changes sounds in the air into nerve signals to the brain. Changes in anyone of these genes can result in hearing loss. Deafness is one of the most common birth defects which can affect 3 in every 1,000 babies born. Inherited hearing loss is only one factor that can lead to the birth defect which can start at any time in your life. Medical problems, environmental exposure, trauma and medications are also causes of hearing loss or deafness. 30% of all mutations are syndromic meaning they also have other symptoms like being blind. Two parents who both carry the disorder in their genes but are not affected by it (heterozygous carriers) have one problem gene (a) and a normal gene (A). The heterozygous parents (A/a) can each generate four combinations of their genes (A/a, A/A, a/A and a/a). Only the offspring that inherits both mutant copies (a/a) will have the disorder. These parents have a 25% chance of having offspring that are cognitively deaf. About 20% of Americans, 48 million, report some sort of a hearing loss. At age 60, 1 out of 3 have a hearing loss. Tiny hair cells in your ear help you hear by picking up sound waves and changing them into nerve signals that you brain interprets as sound. Hearing loss happens when these hair cells get damaged or die. These hairs don't grow back so most hearing loss is permanent. Some people's ears get damaged as they get older from repeated exposure to loud noises, smoking, medical conditions like diabetes or chemotherapy. Also age related hearing loss runs in families. The different levels of hearing loss are Mild, difficulty hearing soft speech in loud environments, Moderate, difficulties understanding speech especially with loud background noises and higher level volume is needed for TV or radio, moderate to severe, clarity of speech is considerably affected. Speech has to be louder than usual and group conversations are difficult. With severe hearing loss, regular speech is inaudible and difficulties with even loud speech. Comprehension is often only possible through shouting or amplification. Profound hearing loss is even amplified is inaudible or difficult to understand.
Books
Research Ideas
Pride And Prejudice - Jane Austen The White House Interpreter by Harry Obst The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Interpreting career Egg industry
College Essay - Prompt : Moral dilemma or a problem you wish you could solve The Dairy Industry Explained
If I could solve any ethical problem it would be the one within the dairy industry. The amount of animals killed in farmed factories like dairy farms in the U.S. is around 56 million a year. One of the most disturbing things I have ever learned is how dairy farmers treat dairy cows. This is a moral dilemma I am constantly reminded of everywhere I go. Everyone I know drinks milk that supports this humongous industry. Dairy is so highly promoted in America and makes it hard for one to do the moral thing, consider how many cows lives were taken to produce it and choose something else in the grocery store. In dairy farms first a cow is artificially inseminated around the age of 12 months confined by what the industry calls the "rape rack". When the cow has her calf it is taken away so they can have more milk for production. This agonizes the mother and she cries out for days in pain for her baby. If the calf is male, dairy workers immediately slit its throat and is sent for veil. If the calf is female it goes through the same process as its mother until it "goes down" (dies or cannot produce milk anymore from over breeding or mastitis) or is sent for slaughter at around age 4 or 5 while cow's lifespan is about 19-22 years in the wild. Somehow the dairy industry has justified to itself murder, taking life of an innocent animal. This cannot be justified or supported. If it has happened once it has happened too many times. Why is this allowed you might think? It seems crazy humans have the capability to do this. One excuse for moral guilt might be that the milk is good for humans and that we need it to survive and be healthy. You don't. You were raised to think so by the dairy industry. You've been told it makes your bones strong. The opposite is true. Cow's milk has three times the protein than human milk which leads to metabolic disturbances and is actually detrimental to your bones! Americans have one of the highest rates of dairy consumption... also the highest rates of osteoporosis according to procon.org. It doesn't make sense to have these poor animals be murdered and cruelly treated for milk. There is soy, almond, rice, hemp, coconut and flax milk for great alternatives. I think that this topic is important for everyone to know about. My whole life there has always been milk in the fridge, I come from dairy farmers and have been proud of it, been told milk is good for you, that's it's natural for humans to drink it. As a young person and apart of a generation that has a possibility for change and to stand up for my beliefs, I have a responsibility to do my part in finding a solution. One simple way to start change is not buying dairy products and not supporting the dairy industry. By spreading word and awareness we can start building a world without cruelty to animals, a sacred creature on earth that deserves life.