[Voice of America jingle]

[concrete music produced by the objects shown]

[Peter Fedynsky] This clashing and crashing percussion music is the work of Jay Alan Zimmerman,

a New York composer with significant hearing loss who has been dubbed "Broadway's Beethoven."

The piece, entitled "Roboticus," is about a man who upgrades his natural body

with artificial parts to become a robot.

[Jay Alan Zimmermann] Yes, that's the situation I am facing: Do I get a cochlear implant and become a bionic man?

If it gave me better than normal hearing, I would grab it,

[sings vocals: Woo-eeee]

Zimmerman has no diagnosis for the condition

that turned his world into a muddle of sound more than 10 years ago.

He supplements that muddle through lip reading. He also relies on light as a complement to his music.

Zimmerman says his hearing problem may involve damage

to the minute sensors in the ear known as hair cells

that transmit audio signals to the brain.

[music]

Though the electronic device known as a cochlear implant improves hearing,

it does not allow for appreciation of music or all of the richness of sound.

Zimmerman prefers to wait for scientists to find a way of regenerating hair cells.

Researchers gained a valuable insight from an unexpected source.

[Hens cackling]

Dr. Mark Warchol of the Washington University School of Medicine explains

what chickens have brought to hearing research.

[Mark Warchol] The avian inner ear has this remarkable ability to regenerate sensory receptors after injury,

So, Deafening a bird, for example, turns out to be a very temporary thing.

Within several weeks, all of the dead sensory cells, damaged sensory cells, will be replaced by new cells.

[Peter Fedynsky] Unlike chickens, humans cannot replace sensory cells lost to aging, toxicity or loud noise.

Researchers at this week's Hearing Restoration Project summit at the New York Academy of Medicine

noted the human body does have the capacity

to restore skin cells, cells in the digestive tract and in a damaged liver.

Dr. Andrew Groves of the Baylor School of Medicine says scientists are trying

to apply that capacity to more complicated sensory cells.

[Andrew Groves] You can break the problem down into two simple processes,

One isthat, if you want to repair something, you have to make more cells; the cells have to divide.

So understanding what tells a cell to start dividing and then to stop at the appropriate time is really important.

[Peter Fedynsky] But researchers say that "simple" problem may take 10 years to solve

and tens of millions of dollars to fund the effort.

[music]

At this point, Jay Alan Zimmerman is declining surgical treatment while he waits for a cure.

In the meantime, he says he will continue writing musicals

and performing his own compositions for theater.

Peter Fedynsky, VOANews, New York

[Music. continuo: "maybe - maybe not" with off voice: "Can you help?"]

(Captions based on the transcript provided by VOA in the web version of this video)