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Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is an organization created to promote awareness in the prevention and cure of hearing loss through groundbreaking research, founded in 1958 by Collette Ramsey-Baker (1918–2010) as the Deafness Research Foundation. It is America’s leading source of private funding for research into the science of hearing and balance. The primary aims of the foundation are to promote the awareness in the prevention of noise induced hearing loss, provide seed money to fund research of hearing and balance science and to cure hearing loss through the Hearing Restoration Project. The foundation is based in New York City. Since 1958, HHF has awarded approximately 2,000 grants totaling over $27.8 million through the Emerging Research Grants program.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Hearing Health Foundation )〕 In 2011, the Deafness Research Foundation changed its name to Hearing Health Foundation and announced the Hearing Restoration Project (HRP). Since its inception, the work of HHF’s grantees has led to many of today’s standard treatments for hearing loss, such as cochlear implants, treatments for ear infections and surgical therapy for otosclerosis. HHF’s grantees have become leaders in hearing research, with many receiving important federal grants. Former grantees make up 20 percent of recipients of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology Award of Merit (1). In 2011, HHF launched its most important research initiative yet. The Hearing Restoration Project promises to deliver a genuine, biologic cure for millions living with hearing loss. HRP is based on research funded by Hearing Health Foundation that birds and other non-mammals can regenerate the hair cells in the inner ear necessary for hearing. Humans can't regenerate these hair cells yet. But recent discoveries in stem cell research and gene mapping may make it possible to trigger regrowth of these cells in humans and develop a cure for hearing loss. == History == The Deafness Research Foundation was founded by Collette Ramsey-Baker in February 1, 1958 to help further research and improve treatments for Americans with hearing loss. Born in Waverly, Tennessee, Collette lived with substantial hearing loss for many years before she had her hearing completely restored at age 35, with an early fenestration operation. In gratitude,she founded the Deafness Research Foundation (DRF). A recurrent model for the renowned painter, Howard Chandler Christy and an avid golfer, she received letters of commendation from many leaders and well-known people including US Presidents Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower, Helen Keller and Cardinal Francis Spellman. In 1960, the DRF and the American Academy of Otolaryngology created the National Temporal Bone Banks Program, to collect and study the human temporal bone, and to encourage temporal bone donation. In 1992 the NIDCD National Temporal Bone, Hearing and Balance Pathology Resource Registry (The Registry) is founded as a nonprofit organization. The Registry was established by the National Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) of the National Institutes of Health in order to continue and expand on the activities of the former National Temporal Bone Banks Program.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.tbregistry.org/What_Is_The_Registry.php )〕 In 1963, leading ear, nose and throat specialists came together in order to advance the research in their respective fields. This group became a professional organization called The Centurions and were supporters of the work and mission of the DRF. By 1972, the DRF was funding research on cochlear implants, with later grants in single channel to multi-channel implants, speech perception among cochlear implant users, and implants in children. Substantial research and significant contribution in the prevention and treatment of middle ear infection was made by researchers who were awarded grants. In 1977 the DRF funded research in outer ear hair cell motility that led to a new method for measuring the health of a newborn's ear, and began funding research to understand how sensory cells transmit sounds from the world to the brain. The DRF funded research led, in 1987, to the discovery of spontaneous regeneration of hair cells in chickens, thus igniting the field of hair cell regeneration in humans. Research on the regrowth of cochlea cells may lead to medical treatments that restore hearing. Unlike birds and reptiles, humans and other mammals are normally unable to regrow the cells of the inner ear that convert sound into neural signals when those cells are damaged by age or disease. In 1989 the DRF funded Meniere's Disease Study Center for improved evaluation and better treatments of Meniere's Disease. In celebration of the 50th Anniversary, the DRF rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in 2008. The organization decided to change its name from The Deafness Research Foundation to Hearing Health Foundation to better communicate the foundation’s mission of helping to prevent, research and cure hearing loss. In September 14, 2011 the Chair of the Board, Clifford P. Tallman, Jr., announced the name change of the DRF to Hearing Health Foundation and presented a new research consortium, the Hearing Restoration Project. "The name Deafness Research Foundation served us well," explained Tallman. "Our research, however, showed that 'deafness' is an outdated term and now has a different connotation from how we were initially using it. Over the last half-century, we have done important work. Our new name reflects our determination to change the social stigma tied to hearing loss and to fund new and promising research that may bring a cure for hearing loss to the public." 〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hearing Health Foundation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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