Around 48 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss, caused by aging, noise exposure, genetics, infections, or medications. Current treatment relies on hearing aids and cochlear implants, which amplify or bypass damaged parts of the ear but don't restore natural hearing or reverse the underlying damage.
What's actually going on in research
Trials are testing drugs that might regenerate hair cells in the inner ear, gene therapies for inherited hearing loss, and treatments to prevent hearing damage from chemotherapy or antibiotics. Researchers are also improving cochlear implant technology and testing devices that stimulate the auditory nerve more precisely.
Hair cell regeneration
Several drugs aim to trigger regrowth of the sensory hair cells in the cochlea that convert sound into nerve signals. Birds naturally regrow these cells after damage, and researchers are testing whether the same pathways can be activated in humans.
Gene therapy
Trials are testing gene therapy for children born with genetic hearing loss, delivering working copies of specific genes directly into the inner ear. Early results show some children gaining the ability to hear speech.
Otoprotective drugs
Drugs are being tested to prevent hearing loss from cisplatin chemotherapy and aminoglycoside antibiotics, which damage hair cells as a side effect. Some work by blocking the toxic pathway without reducing the drugs' main effects.
What to know before you search
Eligibility depends on the cause and severity of hearing loss, age of onset, whether one or both ears are affected, and previous use of hearing aids or implants.
What types of trials are currently open
- Regenerative trials — Testing drugs that might regrow damaged hair cells in the inner ear or promote nerve repair.
- Gene therapy trials — Delivering genes into the inner ear to treat inherited forms of hearing loss, typically in young children.
- Prevention trials — Testing drugs that might protect hearing during chemotherapy or other treatments known to damage the ear.
- Device trials — Testing new cochlear implant technology, improved hearing aids, or devices that stimulate the auditory nerve in new ways.
- Observational studies — Following people with hearing loss to understand how it progresses and what factors predict benefit from different treatments.
Recently added Hearing Loss trials
Receive an auditory nerve implant and test sound perception
The objective of this scientific study is to evaluate the feasibility of direct auditory nerve stimulation to elicit key percepts, specifically loudness and frequency/pitch percepts in three deaf patients participants with the new auditory nerve implant (ANI). During the year with temporary stimulation of the auditory nerve, patients participants are expected to participate for 14 months, consisting of: two months for surgery for the nerve implant and healing phase, one month initial follow-up, ten months of follow-up care and study testing, and one month for explanation and post-operative observation.
Complete listening tests to help improve hearing in noise
Understanding speech in restaurants and other noisy environments is the most common complaint from the more than 60 million Americans with hearing impairment. Succeeding in such environments requires a listener to first segregate sound sources and then selectively attend to the source of interest. This study examines how individual auditory spatial cues (interaural time differences and interaural level differences) support spatial selective attention, the cortical processes that underlie this ability, and how these processes are modulated by task demands. Participants with normal hearing and participants who use bilateral cochlear implants will perform listening tasks while brain and physiological responses are recorded (electroencephalography, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, pupillometry, and, for normal-hearing participants only, functional magnetic resonance imaging). The findings will provide new insights into the mechanisms of spatial selective attention and help guide clinical solutions for cochlear implant users, individuals with hearing impairment more generally, and older normal-hearing adults who have difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments.
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