Hearing impairment, the most prevalent sensory deficit, affects more than 466 million people worldwide (WHO). We presently lack causative treatment for the most common form, sensorineural hearing impairment; hearing aids and cochlear implants (CI) remain the only means of hearing restoration. We engaged with CI users to learn about their expectations and their willingness to collaborate with health care professionals on establishing novel therapies. We summarize upcoming CI innovations, gene therapies, and regenerative approaches and evaluate the chances for clinical translation of these novel strategies. We conclude that there remains an unmet medical need for improving hearing restoration and that we are likely to witness the clinical translation of gene therapy and major CI innovations within this decade.

中文翻译：

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改善听力恢复是否存在未满足的医疗需求？

听力障碍是最普遍的感觉障碍，影响着全世界超过 4.66 亿人 (WHO)。我们目前缺乏对最常见形式感音神经性听力障碍的病因治疗；助听器和人工耳蜗 (CI) 仍然是恢复听力的唯一手段。我们与 CI 用户进行了交流，以了解他们的期望以及与医疗保健专业人员合作建立新疗法的意愿。我们总结了即将到来的 CI 创新、基因疗法和再生方法，并评估了这些新策略的临床转化机会。我们得出的结论是，改善听力恢复的医疗需求仍未得到满足，我们可能会在这十年内见证基因治疗的临床转化和主要的 CI 创新。