▲The elderly are prone to hearing loss
Whether it's hearing loss or loss of hearing, it's a frustrating part of the natural aging process for humans. Because hearing loss can lead to tinnitus, a sense of isolation, and even closely related to Alzheimer's disease, this is why it is important for many people to study reversing hearing loss. Happily, just recently, scientists from MIT may have found a solution. Reversing hearing in the future may be as simple as having vision correction surgery.
According to foreign media reports, MIT-affiliated Frequency Therapeutics (FREQ) is looking for new ways to reverse hearing loss. Unlike the conventional treatments that now equip patients with hearing aids, the clinical-stage biotechnology company hopes to use a new regenerative therapy to repair tiny hair cells in the ear canal so that people with hearing impairment can regain hearing.
As people age, hair cells begin to die from noise and the effects of some medications. Because the ear relies heavily on tiny hairs to detect sound, the death of hair cells can lead to hearing loss. Recently, FREQ may have found a way to eliminate damage to tiny hair cells.
FREQ has been testing a regenerative therapy that utilizes small molecules to recombine progenitor cells and implant them in the ear canal. These recombined progenitor cells are derived from stem cells, and as progenitor cells are implanted in the inner ear, they produce tiny hair cells that our hearing relies on. This regenerative therapy reverses hearing loss by replacing the tiny hair cells that initially caused the hearing loss.
Scientists are experimenting with the use of regenerative therapies to reverse hearing
This is an interesting study, and as trials continue, regenerative therapy may prove to be the most effective treatment for hearing loss. So far, FREQ has obtained excellent results in speech perception testing through experimentation. Dr Chris Luce, co-founder and chief scientific director of FREQ, said: "Improving speech perception is the primary condition for treating hearing loss. ”
Previously, FREQ has performed regenerative therapy on more than 200 patients. Over the course of the trial, three trials achieved positive results in reversing hearing loss. However, there was also one trial showing no improvement in hearing loss from regenerative therapy, and all positive trial results were improvements in speech perception.
FREQ is currently preparing to push a new 124-person trial, and preliminary results are expected to be released early next year. If the trial goes well, then people will see regenerative therapies being tested more extensively. Regenerative therapies still have a long way to go before they are officially launched. However, for those who need to reverse hearing loss, all the results so far look promising.
In addition, as trials mature and develop, scientists believe regenerative therapies will become easier to implement. Jeff Karp, a member of the Harvard-MIT School of Health Sciences and Technology, said in a statement: "If enough resources are invested in 10 to 15 years, scientists can make treatment for reversing hearing loss a minor procedure similar to laser vision correction, which can restore hearing in one to two hours like restoring vision." ”
If research and clinical trials go well, hearing loss can be completely reversed in the near future, and this alone can have a huge impact on society.
Red Star News reporter Wang Yalin intern Guo Yue
Edited by Pan Li