Stefan Heller, the head of one of the regeneration laboratories, is still very skeptical about the possibility of complete regeneration of hair cells.
He says that they have not understood anything yet. And, if one is to get some kind of regeneration in the coming decades, it would not be a full restoration, but a partial, so that people with severe hearing loss can use hearing aids.
Read this article -
http://stanmed.stanford.edu/listening/scientists-hope-cure-hearing-loss-studying-birds.html
- "But in general, inner ear hair cell researchers are in this for the long haul."
Does his opinion run counter to the success of companies like Frequency Therapeutics. He says strange things. And this does not create optimism.