The Ghent Auditory Science Platform (GASP) consortium has identified a number of challenges for the road ahead in hearing research:
- biological strategies for use in the inner ear: gene therapy, stem-cell therapy, and molecular therapy;
- auditory nerve fiber (high-threshold) stimulation, resynchronizing, brain-computer interfacing;
- stimulating brain plasticity (e.g. post deafness, tinnitus and/or decreased sound tolerances), also individualized interventions in therapy;
- cochlear nerve sensing and brainstem processing (auditory processing on implanted chip);
- neuro-acoustic phenotype determination allowing for personalized hearing deficit treatment when needed.