Restored Hearing For Deaf Gerbils

I found this interesting as well as strange.  What a breakthrough this would be if they could perfect it for humans.  

Scientists have restored hearing to deaf gerbils using human embryonic stem cells in an advance that could eventually help people with an intractable form of deafness caused by nerve damage. The procedure needs further animal research to assess safety and long-term effectiveness but researchers said the experiment was an important proof of concept, marking a further advance in the growing field of regenerative medicine. Marcelo Rivolta from Britain 's University of Sheffield , who led the research, said the first patients could receive cell therapy for hearing loss in clinical trials in "a few years". After treating 18 gerbils with complete deafness in one ear, his team reported in the journal Nature that stem cells produced an average 46 percent recovery in hearing function, as measured by electrical signals in the animals' brains. Rivolta said, "If this was a human patient, it would mean going from being so deaf as to be unable to hear loud traffic on the street to being able to maintain a conversation." He added, "For the millions of people for whom hearing loss is eroding their quality of life, this can't come soon enough."