Medical Need

• 466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss (World Health Organization (WHO) 2020)
• 900 million people are expected to have disabling hearing loss by 2050 (WHO 2020)
• Sensory hair cells do not naturally regenerate: from birth, every human being has approximately:
  • 3 500 Inner Hair Cells
  • 12 000 Outer Hair Cells
  • Hair Cells do not naturally regenerate

Hearing loss can be attributed to a number of genetic or environmental factors. The impacts of hearing loss can be significant and can impair the ability to communicate with others and to learn language, eventually leading to issues such as social isolation and cognitive decline. Additionally, recent studies also outline a link between hearing loss and dementia. Hearing loss may also impact academic and work performance.

A key environmental factor contributing to hearing loss is noise. WHO estimates that 1.1 billion young people are currently at risk of hearing loss due to loud noise exposure. Overexposure to noise is also a key contributor to hearing loss in military populations around the world.

As to genetic factors, around 130 genes have been identified as causing non-syndromic hearing loss and around 300 genes are responsible for syndromic forms of hearing loss.