Summary: Researchers have identified a new protein, CIB2, that is key to helping the auditory system to turn soundwaves into meaningful brain signals. Mutations of this gene leave people unable to convert the soundwaves into signals that the brain can interpret, and are deaf.

Source: University of Maryland.

Study identifies a new protein that is essential to the process of turning sound waves into meaningful brain signals.

Although the basic outlines of human hearing have been known for years – sensory cells in the inner ear turn sound waves into the electrical signals that the brain understands as sound – the molecular details have remained elusive.

Now, new research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM), has identified a crucial protein in this translation process.

The findings were published today in the latest issue of Nature Communications. The study is the first to illuminate in detail how…