View this page in: English | Español
La audición es compleja y requiere de una serie de acciones y reacciones para funcionar. El proceso implica que muchas partes del oído trabajen juntas para convertir las ondas sonoras en información que el cerebro comprende e interpreta.
Las ondas sonoras ingresan al canal auditivo y viajan hacia nuestros tímpanos.
Las ondas sonoras hacen que vibren el tímpano y los huesos del oído medio.
Pequeñas células ciliadas dentro de la cóclea, el órgano sensorial del oído, convierten estas vibraciones en impulsos eléctricos que son captados por el nervio auditivo.
Al nacer, cada oído típico tiene alrededor de 12.000 células sensoriales, llamadas células ciliadas, que se asientan sobre una membrana que vibra en respuesta al sonido entrante. Cada frecuencia de un sonido complejo hace vibrar al máximo la membrana en una ubicación determinada. Debido a este mecanismo, escuchamos diferentes tonos dentro del sonido. Un sonido más fuerte aumenta la amplitud de la vibración, por eso escuchamos el volumen más alto.
Las señales enviadas al cerebro desde el nervio auditivo se interpretan como sonidos.
Cómo funciona la audición (tiene disponible subtitulado en español)
Una vez que las células ciliadas del oído interno se dañan, se produce una pérdida auditiva neurosensorial permanente.
Actualmente, la pérdida auditiva neurosensorial no se puede restaurar en humanos, pero los investigadores de la HHF están trabajando para comprender mejor los mecanismos de la pérdida auditiva, y así encontrar mejores tratamientos y curas.
Traducción al español realizada por Julio Flores-Alberca, enero 2024. Sepa más aquí.
More Resources
Understanding how internal state interacts with cell-type-specific circuits in the auditory cortex may ultimately help identify therapeutic targets for tinnitus and related hearing disorders.
For Deaf and hard of hearing children, books and stories are vital spaces where they can see themselves, feel understood, find community and belonging, and lay the foundation for confidence and identity development that will set them up for success throughout their lives.
What these findings make clear is that audiologists are carrying an enormous clinical load. Much of what surrounds that load does not require their specialized training.
This is a story of resilience, dark humor, and the technical challenge of mixing audio when your brain processes sound through a handful of electrodes instead of thousands of hair cells.
Why is a particular gene silent in a mouse supporting cell but active in a chicken supporting cell? Is the difference epigenetic? Are regulatory regions locked down in mammals? These are the kinds of questions we can now pursue systematically.
Whether you are a casual giver or a long-time philanthropist, understanding these changes—and utilizing tools like a donor-advised fund (DAF)—can help your dollars go much further.
Using the new biosensor, we discovered that zinc signaling is directly involved in how the brain processes sound in the auditory cortex during sound processing and in the amygdala during aversive responses.
Hearing loss doesn’t have to be the end. It can feel like it, but it doesn’t have to be. Music is still possible. Life is still possible. There are ways to regain control, ways to find your own authorship through understanding. I want people to know that.
Younger and older adults improved at similar rates from lower levels of noise—meaning that both groups benefited equally from better listening conditions. But older adults needed a head start: They needed lower levels of background noise to reach the same accuracy.
As shown on “The Pitt,” when an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter is unavailable or real-time captioning is missing, vital information is lost, leading to diagnostic and treatment delays.
Serotonin seems to quiet down excitatory neurons while boosting inhibitory ones. This differential modulation may help us to understand the role of serotonin in auditory disorders such as tinnitus and age-related hearing loss.

Gaming can be one of those rare things where a parent and child actually connect on equal ground. But that bonding only works if both people can be part of the conversation. Hearing loss can make that moment impossible because one of them can’t hear the other.