One of the greatest challenges in the treatment of
inner-ear disorders is to find a cure for the hearing loss
that is caused by the loss of cochlear hair cells or spiral
ganglion neurons. The recent discovery of stem cells in
the adult inner ear that are capable of differentiating
into hair cells, as well as the finding that embryonic
stem cells can be converted into hair cells, raise hope
for the future development of stem-cell-based treatment
regimens. Here, we propose different approaches
for using stem cells to regenerate the damaged inner
ear and we describe the potential obstacles that translational
approaches must overcome for the development
of stem-cell-based cell-replacement therapies for
the damaged inner ear