Hormone Therapy: Challenges for Treating Hearing Impairments

The purpose of this review is to summarize the advances and discoveries in the potential treatment with hormone analogs and some challenges still pending, beyond the classic treatment with corticosteroids. We conduct a review of the functions of hormones on hearing, in human and animal models, the presence of their most relevant receptors, and the desirable and undesirable effects for their therapeutic uses. Different hormones play a regulatory role in the development and maintenance of hearing. Hormone receptors in the ear have been identified over the years, which can be a support to use them as new therapeutic targets Moreover, their mediators, that include cells, neurotrophic factors, or other hormones, could be also useful for treating various hearing impairments The use of synthetic analogs could exert a therapeutic effect on hearing. Hormone therapy, in fact, can contribute positively to the treatment and prevention of various auditory pathologies, through the regeneration or protection. Considering that an optimal result has to be a garantee, it is a must to know their unwanted effects and contraindications. The use of hormones may protect, regenerate, and modulate multiple pathological conditions of the ear, but it would be necessary to standardize drug dosages, find alternative routes, and conduct prospective studies in humans.