Johns Hopkins Professor Leads Efforts to Restore Hearing Using Gene Therapy

Wade Chien helped to develop a gene therapy delivery system to restore hearing and balance in mice.

Continue reading at Johns Hopkins Medicine

✦ The floor

Discussion

Signed responses from readers of the wire.

✦ Clinical Takeaway ✦

No actionable change — this is early-stage mouse research; clinical translation to humans is not yet established.

✦ Why It Matters ✦

Gene therapy for hearing restoration is one of the most closely watched frontiers in audiology, and progress in animal models moves the field a step closer to potential human treatments.

✦ Key Points ✦

01Johns Hopkins professor Wade Chien co-developed a novel gene therapy delivery system.
02The system restored both hearing and balance function in mouse models.
03Research is currently at the preclinical (animal) stage — no human trials mentioned.
04Gene therapy targets the underlying genetic causes of hearing loss rather than amplifying sound.
05Results signal potential for future non-device-based hearing restoration strategies.

✦ Claims & Evidence ✦

ClaimEvidenceSupport

The gene therapy delivery system restored hearing function in mice.

studypartially supported

The gene therapy delivery system restored balance function in mice.

studypartially supported

✦ Related stories ✦

PubMed·Journal article·Research (general)·2mo ago

Impaired speech-in-noise perception in individuals with a history of hearing symptoms after noise exposure

Audiologists should consider supplementing standard audiograms with speech-in-noise testing for patients reporting noise-exposure symptoms, as normal thresholds alone may miss clinically meaningful hearing dysfunction consistent with cochlear synaptopathy (hidden hearing loss).

PubMed·Journal article·Research (general)·4mo ago

Effects of Hearing Intervention on Cognitive Function in Patients with Presbycusis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis provides the strongest available evidence that hearing intervention positively impacts cognitive function in older adults with age-related hearing loss; audiologists should use these findings to counsel patients and reinforce the...

PubMed·Journal article·Research (general)·3mo ago

The Genetic Causes of Auditory Neuropathy: A Systematic Review

Genetic testing for auditory neuropathy is clinically meaningful because the causative gene can influence cochlear implant candidacy and expected outcomes; audiologists should advocate for genetic workup in confirmed auditory neuropathy cases.

PubMed·Journal article·Research (general)·3mo ago

Hearing Loss in Adults With Diabetes and Prediabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Audiologists should consider routine hearing screening for adult patients with known diabetes or prediabetes, as this meta-analysis provides strong epidemiological evidence linking both conditions to increased prevalence and severity of hearing loss.

PubMed·Journal article·Research (general)·2w ago

Increased listening effort and decreased speech perception at high presentation sound levels in older hearing-impaired adult listeners

Audiologists should avoid assuming that higher presentation levels always benefit older hearing-impaired listeners; fitting and counselling protocols should account for the paradoxical degradation in speech perception and increased listening effort at high levels.

PubMed·Clinical trial·Research (general)·3w ago

Effects of hearing intervention on blood-based biomarkers of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration: a secondary analysis of the ACHIEVE randomised controlled trial

are secondary and exploratory — audiologists should not change practice based on these biomarker findings alone, but the study adds biological plausibility to hearing intervention as a potential tool for brain health preservation.

PubMed·Preprint·Research (general)·2mo ago

Older adults show overexaggerated and larger noise-related degradation in their neural tracking of speech

This finding suggests age-related declines in how the brain tracks speech in noise go beyond peripheral hearing loss; audiologists should be cautious attributing all speech-in-noise difficulty in older adults to the audiogram alone, though the preprint has not yet been...

PubMed·Journal article·Research (general)·2w ago

Incidence and characteristics of teprotumumab-associated ototoxicity in thyroid eye disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Audiologists and ENTs should be aware that teprotumumab carries a quantifiable ototoxicity risk; patients receiving this drug for thyroid eye disease warrant hearing monitoring, and audiologists may be asked to provide baseline and follow-up audiometric testing.