According to the World Health Organization's world report on hearing, nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide will suffer from hearing loss by 2050, which may contribute to a severe impact on individual life quality and national economies. Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) occurs commonly as a result of noise exposure, aging, and ototoxic drugs, and is pathologically characterized by the impairment of mechanosensory hair cells of the inner ear, which is mainly triggered by reactive oxygen species accumulation, inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Though recent advances have been made in understanding the ability of cochlear repair and regeneration, there are still no effective therapeutic drugs for SNHL. Chinese herbal medicine which is widely distributed and easily accessible in China has demonstrated a unique curative effect against SNHL with higher safety and lower cost compared with Western medicine. Herein we present trends in research for Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of SNHL, and elucidate their molecular mechanisms of action, to pave the way for further research and development of novel effective drugs in this field.

根据世界卫生组织《世界听力报告》，到2050年，全球将有近25亿人遭受听力损失，这可能对个人生活质量和国家经济造成严重影响。感音神经性听力损失（SNHL）通常由噪声暴露、衰老和耳毒性药物引起，其病理特征是内耳机械感觉毛细胞受损，这主要是由活性氧积累、炎症和耳聋引起的。线粒体功能障碍。尽管近年来在了解耳蜗修复和再生能力方面取得了进展，但仍然没有有效的治疗 SNHL 的药物。中草药在我国分布广泛、易于获取，对SNHL具有独特的疗效，且与西药相比安全性更高、成本更低。本文介绍中草药治疗SNHL的研究动态，并阐明其作用分子机制，为该领域进一步研发新型有效药物奠定基础。