It is estimated that by 2050 one in every ten people will be suffering from disabling hearing loss. Perforated tympanic membranes (TMs) are the most common injury to the human ear, resulting in a partial or complete hearing loss due to inept sound conduction. Commonly known as the eardrum, the TM is a thin, concave tissue of the middle ear that captures sound pressure waves from the environment and transmits them as mechanical vibrations to the inner ear. Microsurgical placement of autologous tissue graft has been the “gold standard” for treating damaged TMs; however, the incongruent structural and mechanical properties of these autografts often impair an optimal hearing restoration following recovery. Moreover, given the lack of available tissues for transplantations, regenerative medicine has emerged as a promising alternative. Several tissue engineered approaches applying bio-instructive scaffolds and stimuli have been reported for the TM regeneration, which can be broadly classified into TM repair and TM reconstruction. This review evaluates the current advantages and challenges of both strategies with a special focus on the use of recent biofabrication technologies for advancing TM tissue engineering.

据估计，到 2050 年，每 10 人中就有 1 人患有致残性听力损失。穿孔的鼓膜 (TM) 是人耳最常见的损伤，由于声音传导不畅导致部分或完全听力损失。通常称为耳膜，TM 是中耳的一个薄而凹的组织，它从环境中捕获声压波并将它们作为机械振动传递到内耳。自体组织移植的显微手术放置一直是治疗受损 TM 的“金标准”；然而，这些自体移植物的结构和机械性能不一致，通常会损害恢复后的最佳听力恢复。此外，由于缺乏可用于移植的组织，再生医学已成为一种有前途的替代方案。已经报道了几种应用生物指导性支架和刺激的组织工程方法用于 TM 再生，可大致分为 TM 修复和 TM 重建。本综述评估了这两种策略的当前优势和挑战，特别关注使用最近的生物制造技术来推进 TM 组织工程。