Call it the Ray Charles Effect: a young child who is blind learns to hear things others cannot. Researchers know that young brains are malleable enough to re-wire some circuits that process sensory information. Now researchers have shown the brains of adult mice can also be re-wired, compensating for vision loss by improving their hearing. This may lead to treatments for human hearing loss. Minimizing a person’s sight for as little as a week may help improve the brain’s ability to process hearing.