A novel gene therapy for hearing loss was administered to six children in China in a clinical trial. Each child had an inherited deafness caused by mutations in the OTOF gene, called DFNB9. The researchers report in a new study, after 26 weeks, five children demonstrated hearing recovery and dramatic improvements in speech perception and the restored ability to conduct normal conversation. With its first patient treated in December 2022, this research represents the first human clinical trial to administer gene therapy for treating this form of hearing loss, with the most patients treated and longest follow-up conducted to date.