her with probably suffering from otosclerosis as well. Margaret Sullavan, American stage and film actress, suffered from the congenital hearing defect otosclerosis that worsened as she aged, making her more and more hard of hearing. Howard Hughes the pioneering American aviator, engineer, industrialist, and film producer also suffered from otosclerosis. Frankie Valli, lead singer of The Four Seasons, suffered from it in the late 1960s and early 1970s, forcing him to "sing from memory" in the latter part of the 70s (surgery restored most of his hearing by 1980). Pittsburgh Penguins forward Steve Downie suffers from otosclerosis. The British queen Alexandra of Denmark suffered from it, leading to her social isolation; Queen Alexandra's biographer, Georgina Battiscombe, was able to have "some understanding of Alexandra's predicament" because she too had otosclerosis. Adam Savage, co-host of MythBusters, uses a hearing aid due to otosclerosis. Sir John Cornforth, Australian-British Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate References External links NIH/Medline Diseases of inner ear Otology Audiology