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Research of hearing loss has been difficult over the years.  New research is tracking how premature infants lose hearing, and how it can be prevented.  This knowledge could have broader application to adults.

Both humans and mice are particularly vulnerable to noise- and drug-induced hearing loss at young ages.

Sound levels measured by Clark and Weathers showed that premature infants being airlifted tested were exposed to almost 100 decibels for a period of 12 minutes before takeoff, similar to a lawn mower or chain saw. These levels could be especially damaging to premature babies.

"The laboratory mouse is a well-established model for human hearing," says coauthor Kevin K. Ohlemiller, Ph.D., research associate professor of otolaryngology. "They possess similar inner ear anatomy and physiology and similar patterns of age-related, noise-induced and drug-related hearing loss."

Ohlemiller worked with Elizabeth A. Fernandez, then a doctoral student in the Program in Audiology and Communication Sciences, to see if loud noise and a low dose of kanamycin would exacerbate each other's effects. Because the first month of life is when mice are most vulnerable to noise and drugs that damage hearing, 20- to 30-day old mice were injected with either kanamycin or saline solution twice a day for 11 days. They were then exposed to 110 decibels of noise for 30 seconds.

Two surprising findings arose.

First, this particular strain of mice was very sensitive to noise-induced hearing loss. Significant loss of some sensory cells in the ear resulted in permanent hearing damage, even over the short time span.

Second, a regular, low dose of kanamycin completely protected the mice against this sensory cell damage and hearing loss. The protective effect of repeated doses persists for at least two days after the last injection, the scientists noted.

Researchers plan to use these hearing research findings in a number of ways.

They can map the genes in this strain of mice to determine what makes them so noise-sensitive and possibly figure out how kanamycin protects sensory cells in the ear.

In addition, the findings open up new possibilities for clinical research.

Learning how kanamycin protects the ear's sensory cells could help scientists develop drugs with similar effects. Medications that protect the ears from damaging noise levels could benefit a wide range of groups, from soldiers to airline workers to premature babies.

Basic Science Research PLUS Clinical Problem & Practice

"This very dramatically points out the benefits of having basic scientists who can take a clinical problem and find a result opposite of what we expected," Clark says. "These results not only energize laboratory scientists and begin new lines of research, but they also have implications for clinical practice. This has been an amazing sequence of events, to start a project in a helicopter and end up under a microscope."

Fernandez EA, Ohlemiller KK, Gagnon PM, Clark WW. Protection against noise-induced hearing loss in young CBA/J mice by low-dose kanamycin. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. Jan. 22, 2010 (advance online publication).

Funding from National Institutes of Health and the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Department of Otolaryngology supported this research.

Green for health care is about more than "green building."  It's about green operations, green and sustainable community citizenship, and respect for the body's natural health and healing systems.

Green Guide for Health Care™, is the healthcare sector's first quantifiable sustainable design toolkit integrating enhanced environmental and health principles and practices into the planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance of their facilities.

This Guide provides the healthcare sector with a voluntary, self-certifying metric toolkit of best practices that designers, owners, and operators can use to guide and evaluate their progress towards high performance healing environments.

Health care facilities present both a challenge and opportunity in the development and implementation of sustainable design, construction and operations practices. Issues such as 24/7 operations, energy and water use intensity, chemical use, infection control requirements and formidable regulatory requirements can pose significant obstacles to the implementation of currently accepted sustainability protocols. Furthermore, it is appropriate that guidelines customized for the health care sector reflect the collective fundamental mission to protect and enhance individual and community health, and that those guidelines acknowledge the intrinsic relationship between the built environment and ecological health.

As health care institutions evolve a design language for high performance healing environments, they have the opportunity to highlight the associated health-based benefits. This in turn can inspire the broader adoption of health-based design principles in other building sectors.

Voluntary Educational Guide for Sustainable Design, Construction and Operations Practices

This online document is neither intended to establish regulatory requirements, nor to be viewed as a minimum standard for design, construction or operations. Rather it is designed to serve as a voluntary educational guide for early adopters of sustainable design, construction, and operations practices, to encourage continuous improvement in the health care sector, and to provide market signals to catalyze a richer palette of strategies for those who follow the early adopters.

As the general level of green building practice rises, it is anticipated that the Green Guide will be updated to encourage continued leadership and higher levels of rigor associated with creating high performance healing environments.

REFERENCE:  Green Guide for Health Care:  www.gghc.org