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Clinical trials for hearing regeneration

Some treatments try to restore hearing in people with hearing loss. They’re called regenerative treatments.

Sensorineural hearing loss, the most common cause of hearing loss, can be caused by damage to:

  • the cells lining the cochlea in the inner ear
  • the nerve cells that connect the ear to the brain.

The inner ear has around 15,000 hair cells that detect and translate sound into electrical signals, the only ‘language’ our brain understands. Auditory nerve cells transmit the electrical signals to the brain, making it possible for us to hear sound from the gentlest whisper to the loudest sound.

Damage to the hair cells and/or auditory nerve cells is an irreversible process, and can be caused by:

  • ageing
  • noise
  • certain types of medication
  • infections
  • genetics.

Regenerative treatments attempt to regrow the cells lining the cochlea, such as hair cells, and/or the auditory nerve cells and restore our hearing.

How regenerative treatments could potentially benefit you in the future

Regenerative treatments aim to recover people’s hearing after it has been lost, rather than trying to protect it.

The damage these treatments address is common to several type of hearing loss, so they could benefit a diverse range of people who have lost their hearing due to different causes.

Find out more

Regenerative treatments currently being tested in people are in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the clinical trials. Find out more about the clinical trials on regenerative treatments for hearing loss:

Akouos (gene therapy)

  • Safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of AAVAnc80-hOTOF for children with hearing loss due to changes in the Otoferlin gene, Phase 1 clinical trial now recruiting in the US

AudioCure Pharma (drug)

  • Safety and efficacy of AC102 for people with sudden sensorineural hearing loss, Phase 2 clinical trial now recruiting across Europe including Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland and Serbia

Decibel Therapeutics (gene therapy)

  • Safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of DB-OTO for children with hearing loss due to changes in the Otoferlin gene, Phase 1 clinical trial now recruiting in the UK and Spain

This page is a non-exhaustive list of the clinical trials that are currently taking place.

Page last updated: 1 December 2023

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