Opal's parents, Jo and James Sandy, both 33, said they were 'gobsmacked' when they realised she could hear just weeks after the surgery.
A treatment for a common form of hereditary deafness is a success Two children in China who were born deaf can now listen and dance to music after undergoing pioneering gene therapy that restored hearing in both ears. They are among a small group of patients who were the first in the world to receive this ground-breaking treatment. Given as an infusion into the ear, it works by replacing the faulty DNA which causes a type of inherited deafness known as DFNB9.
It is caused by a failure to produce a protein known as otoferlin, which is necessary for the transmission of the sound signals from the ear to the brain. Currently, a cochlear implant is the only effective treatment recommended to DFNB9 patients. DFNB9 is typically treated using a cochlear implant To deliver the treatment, the researchers used a modified version of the adeno-associated virus , which is not harmful to humans.
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