These treatments are beneficial but cannot restore hearing to normal levels. Despite the massive burden posed by hearing problems, current clinical options for treating sensorineural hearing loss are limited, and are mostly based on hearing devices, such as hearing aids and cochlear implants. Environmental factors, such as noise overexposure, viruses, or ototoxic drugs or chemicals, can also result in permanent sensorineural hearing loss, through damage to the auditory hair cells and neurons. Age-related hearing loss affects almost two-thirds of individuals over the age of 70 years. About 1 newborn in every 500 suffer from congenital hearing impairment, with over 50% of these being hereditary in nature. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), disabling hearing loss affects over 5% of the world’s population (466 million people). Hearing impairment is the most common sensory deficit in humans. In this review, we focus on the successful restoration of auditory and vestibular functions in certain inner ear conditions, paving the way for future clinical applications. New therapeutic approaches based on gene transfer and gene editing tools are being developed in animal models. However, neither approach can mediate a full recovery of hearing sensitivity and/or restoration of the native inner ear sensory epithelia. Efforts are continuing to improve these devices to help users to understand speech in noisy environments and to appreciate music. Hearing loss is currently palliated by rehabilitation methods: conventional hearing aids, and for more severe forms, cochlear implants. However, there is still no curative treatment for sensorineural deafness. Over the last two decades, the study of inherited deafness forms and related animal models has been instrumental in deciphering the molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms of disease. The other major causes of deafness, which also may have genetic predisposition, are aging, acoustic trauma, ototoxic drugs such as aminoglycosides, and noise exposure. Over 50% of congenital deafness are hereditary in nature. Hearing impairment is the most frequent sensory deficit in humans of all age groups, from children (1/500) to the elderly (more than 50% of the over-75 s).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |