Noise induced hearing loss is a serious health problem with no treatment currently available. Noise trauma leads to cell death of hair cells of the inner ear leading to permanent sensory deficits. Unlike other animals, sea anemones repair their hair bundle mechanoreceptors despite severe trauma. Repair is accomplished by a discrete set of molecules named "repair proteins." As a first step toward testing the suitability of repair proteins as therapeutic agents for noise damaged hair cells in mammals, we find that repair proteins restore function to traumatized hair cells of the lateral line of fish. The lateral lines are damaged by brief exposure to calcium free buffers. In the absence of treatment, traumatized hair cells of fish die by apoptosis. Thus, repair proteins rescue traumatized hair cells of fish from cell death.