Marcelo Rivolta from Britain’s University of Sheffield, who led the research, said the first patients could receive cell therapy for hearing loss in clinical trials in “a few years”.

The procedure needs further animal research to assess safety and long term effectiveness but researchers said on Wednesday the experiment was an important proof of concept, marking a further advance in the growing field of regenerative medicine.

After treating 18 gerbils with complete deafness in one ear, his team reported in the journal Nature that stem cells produced an average 46 percent recovery in hearing function, as measured by electrical signals in the animals’ brains.

(Source: futurenow321)