Hair cells

[Kevin Austin <kevin.austin@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In my naive youth I learned that NIHL was related to the excessive motion of the hair cells in the cochlea and through shearing (forces), the hair cells were 'worn down'. Now I read about oxidative cell death: "When the ear is exposed to excessive sound levels or loud sounds over time, the overstimulation of the hair cells leads to heavy production of reactive oxygen species, leading to oxidative cell death." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise-induced_hearing_loss

Is this the currently accepted view of cochlear hair cell destruction?

Many thanks

Kevin