Delivering non-invasive mild therapeutic hypothermia to humans topically behind the outer ear leads to cooling in the inner ear, which has important implications for hearing loss therapy. Read below to learn about research on topical cooling to target hearing cells.

Application of mild therapeutic hypothermia has been shown to reduce inflammation that is associated with inner ear cell damage and hearing loss.

RestorEar's research partners studied the feasibility of delivering mild therapeutic hypothermia to the inner ear using a non-invasive topical approach. Human models received topical cooling just behind the outer ear from a custom-designed cooling device for 30 or 60 minutes. Temperature probes in the inner ear measured the average temperature change and cooling rate for the two groups. Models that received both 30 and 60 minutes of non-invasive topical cooling behind the outer ear experienced mild hyperthermia in the inner ear, indicating a safe, non-invasive method for cooling the inner ears.