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Of course, many people with hearing problems can use hearing aids or, for serious cases, cochlear implants. But the implants require surgery and many people do not like or use hearing aids, so drugs could be an alternative.
“Glasses can usually return you to 20/20 while hearing aids don’t return you to normal hearing, not even close,” said Kathleen C.M. Campbell, a professor at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.
But challenges remain. Efforts in the past to develop ear drugs, to the extent they were made, largely failed. The inner ear, which is crucial to both hearing and balance, is almost impenetrable, making it difficult to study or for drugs to enter.
“It’s a teeny organ encased in a really, really hard bone,” said Dr. Hinrich Staecker, professor of otolaryngology at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. “The whole inner ear fits inside the tip of your pinkie.”