MIT Scientists Say They’ve Invented a Treatment That Reverses Hearing Loss

A group of MIT scientists have developed a new type of therapy that can reverse hearing loss without the need for hearing aids or implants.

The team discovered a new way to encourage the growth of hair cells inside the cochlea by programming progenitor cells.

The hair cells allow us to hear, but they die off over time or when exposed to excess noise. Allowing the ear to regenerate them could bring back at least some degree of hearing.

The team was able to improve the ability of trial participants to perceive speech. There is a good reason for that.

Speech perception is the number one goal for improving hearing and the number one need we hear from patients, according to Frequency co-founder and CEO Chris Loose.

The company said that some of the improvements stayed around for almost two years.

The treatment works by transforming progenitor cells into other cells that can grow hair in the cochlea.

Conventional gene therapies rely on the patient's own cells, which first need to be reprogrammed in a lab.

The team hopes their new technique will have a lasting effect.

I wouldn't be surprised if in ten or fifteen years, because of the resources being put into this space and the incredible science being done.

I think we will see the same thing for hearing loss.

MIT scientists have developed a new drug that reverses hearing loss.

There is more on hearing.

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