Gene therapy can outperform a cochlear implant for children with congenital deafness

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-07-22 01:00

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Cochlear implantation is considered the gold standard treatment for children born with hearing loss, however, international research has found a new gene therapy could be more effective. The therapy targets a gene that can cause hearing loss when it mutates, and researchers followed up with 11 young patients who had the therapy, and compared their progress with 61 patients of a similar age who received cochlear implantation. The researchers say the results were similar in both groups after three months, but at six and 12 months, the children who received the gene therapy were performing better at tests measuring their auditory response, understanding of speech over background noise and perception of music.