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Gene therapy trial restores hearing in both ears for deaf children | Study participants born unable to hear could locate sound sources, recognise speech and dance to music after treatment

Study participants born unable to hear could locate sound sources, recognise speech and dance to music after treatment

The children were unable to hear because of inherited genetic mutations that disrupt the body’s ability to make a protein needed to ensure auditory signals pass seamlessly from the ear to the brain. Doctors at Fudan University in Shanghai treated the children, aged between one and 11, in both ears in the hope they would regain sufficient 3D hearing to take part in conversations and work out which direction sounds were coming from. Young boy filmed before and after injection to improve hearing – videoAnother patient, a three-year-old girl, fails to react to sounds, but 13 weeks after the treatment can understand sentences and speak some words.

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