The gene connects hearing and touch
Sound and touch may seem completely separate, except possibly when playing the game Operation.
听觉和触觉似乎是彼此完全独立的—除了在玩军事游戏的时候需要二者都用上。
But it turns out that the two senses are actually quite entwined: a new study finds that people with hearing issues often also have problems with touch.
但事实证明，这两个感官实际上是紧密联系的：一项新的研究发现，有听觉障碍的人往往也存在触觉障碍。
Researchers compared sets of twins, some identical and some fraternal.
研究人员比较了几对双胞胎，其中既有同卵双生胎也有异卵双生胎。
The identical twins, obviously, have the same genome and thus the same mutations.
很明显，同卵双生胎具有相同的基因，因此它们的变异也相同。
The fraternal twins have genetic differences.
异卵双生胎的则存在基因差异。
Other subjects in the study were congenitally deaf.
其他的受试者则先天性耳聋。
To determine how acute their hearing was, the subjects reported whether they could hear various high frequencies.
为了确定他们的听觉是否敏锐，研究人员让受试者说出他们是否能听到各种各样的较高频率。
To evaluate touch they were asked to differentiate different surfaces with their fingertips.
为了确定他们的触觉能力，研究人员要求受试者用指尖区分不同的物体表面。
The research revealed that touch sensitivity was highly heritable and connected closely with hearing ability.
研究显示，触摸能力是可以高度遗传的而且和听觉能力密切联系。
The better the twins could sense touch, the better they could hear, and vice versa.
受试双胞胎的触摸能力越好，他们的听觉能力也就越好，反之亦然。
One in five subjects that had congenital deafness also had a poor sense of touch.
而五个先天性耳聋受试者中的一个则触觉能力很差。
The research is in the journal Public Library of Science Biology.
这项研究刊登在《生物科学公共图书馆》（Public Library of Science Biology）杂志上。
Next the researchers want to figure out which genes are faulty.
接下来，研究人员希望能找出是哪些基因出了问题。
After all, addressing the problem could kill two birds with one stone.
毕竟，解决了这个问题，可以收到一石二鸟之功。
2025年9月5日于北城家园
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