Inner Ear Gene Therapy – Recent Advances and Clinical Perspectives

Current strategies to treat hearing loss include sound amplification (via hearing aids), enhanced sound transmission (via middle ear prostheses/active implants), and direct neuronal stimulation (via cochlear implants). While potentially transformative, these approaches remain far from optimal in restoring hearing function, and deficiencies in natural sound perception, speech discrimination in noisy environments, and frequency sensitivity remain. Gene therapy for the inner ear is a compelling new approach with high potential to improve the current standard of care for genetic, age-related, and environmentally-induced hearing loss. This webinar will present a brief summary of several recent advances in gene therapy and discuss the major hurdles that remain on the path to widespread clinical use.