For those who view deafness as a medical condition, whether deafness can be cured is a valid question. While restoration of damaged hair cells in the cochlea through hair cell regrowth holds some promise for restoring hearing in the future, as of 2000 it is unknown when or if such research into hair cell regrowth will bring results. Gene therapy also holds promise for curing some kinds of hearing loss.
While there is no cure for deafness, most hard of hearing children and many deaf children receive significant benefit from either hearing aids or cochlear implants.Hearing aids, being non-invasive, are the preferred first course of treatment if they provide adequate aided levels of hearing. These devices in combination with specific approaches to language instruction can reduce the negative impact of deafness on your child.
For those deaf children who do not receive adequate benefit from hearing aids, cochlear implants for children have been approved by the FDA as a treatment for severe or profound deafness for children as young as 12 months of age, and for certain complications such as ossification in the cochlea to an even earlier age. Even with cochlear implants, though, several years of intensive audition, speech, and language therapy with a child is normally needed in order for that child to receive full benefit from the implant. The implant is not turned on with the child immediately having normal hearing (not does it provide normal hearing after further use). The child's hearing, though much improved, is still not normal. The child typically must have extensive therapy in order to make sense of these new sounds. Auditory processing of these new sounds must be taught by a properly certified therapist and/or teacher of the deaf who has had experience with the management and use of cochlear implants.
So, while there is no cure for deafness presently, there is remediation available that can reduce the negative impact of deafness on your child