No longer falling on deaf ears: Mechanisms of degeneration and regeneration of cochlear ribbon synapses

• Cochlear ribbon synapses are required for rapid and reliable neurotransmission.
• Degeneration of ribbon synapses is a common pathology in sensorineural hearing loss.
• Strategies promoting regeneration of ribbon synapses are discussed.

Cochlear ribbon synapses are required for the rapid and precise neural transmission of acoustic signals from inner hair cells to the spiral ganglion neurons. Emerging evidence suggests that damage to these synapses represents an important form of cochlear neuropathy that might be highly prevalent in sensorineural hearing loss. In this review, we discuss our current knowledge on how ribbon synapses are damaged by noise and during aging, as well as potential strategies to promote ribbon synapse regeneration for hearing restoration.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled .