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Who knew lasers could lend an ear?

Listen to this: Rice bioengineers Robert Raphael and John Oghalai are hoping to turn deafness on its ear by developing a device that uses high-powered lasers to isolate and stimulate auditory nerve cells. Raphael and Oghalai, who also is an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine and director of the Hearing Center at Texas Children’s Hospital, received a $156,499 grant from the Virginia and L.E. Simmons Family Foundation Collaborative Research Fund in support of their work. If successful, the research could lead to a super-charged hearing aid that works even better than cochlear implants, which are the most effective current treatment for deafness. That’s big news for the hearing impaired — and we’re betting this won’t be the last you hear of it.