Gene therapy for hearing loss has transitioned from a theoretical concept into a transformative clinical reality, albeit limited to specific cases of genetic hearing loss—for now. 

Over the years, I had a lot of conversations with patients sitting across from me—sometimes at a desk, sometimes just chatting while they waited. And no matter who they were, many of them were feeling the same things: frustrated, unsure, and sometimes a little overwhelmed.

For this mom, late in life diagnoses turned years of confusion into a clearer sense of self and deeper connections.

This path in parenting the hard of hearing—let’s face it—can be exhausting. If you walked alone, and because this disability is so often invisible, your village might not be on your front porch. You have to go hunting for it.

Our daughters, whose ears do not hear, opened my eyes more widely than ever before.

“We offer two versions for your brand of hearing aids. One is simply a microphone. The other includes a built‑in telecoil so people whose hearing aids don’t have telecoils can still connect to a hearing loop. Either one sends sound to the user’s hearing aids via Bluetooth.” 

Gaming can be one of those rare things where a parent and child actually connect on equal ground. But that bonding only works if both people can be part of the conversation. Hearing loss can make that moment impossible because one of them can’t hear the other.

Understanding how internal state interacts with cell-type-specific circuits in the auditory cortex may ultimately help identify therapeutic targets for tinnitus and related hearing disorders.

For Deaf and hard of hearing children, books and stories are vital spaces where they can see themselves, feel understood, find community and belonging, and lay the foundation for confidence and identity development that will set them up for success throughout their lives. 

What these findings make clear is that audiologists are carrying an enormous clinical load. Much of what surrounds that load does not require their specialized training. 

This is a story of resilience, dark humor, and the technical challenge of mixing audio when your brain processes sound through a handful of electrodes instead of thousands of hair cells.

Why is a particular gene silent in a mouse supporting cell but active in a chicken supporting cell? Is the difference epigenetic? Are regulatory regions locked down in mammals? These are the kinds of questions we can now pursue systematically.