Whole family cried: New gene therapy offers hope for deaf kids [Video]

Zhu Yangyang babbles away like a typical happy three-year-old, calling out for “mama” and “papa” and accurately naming colors — a remarkable achievement considering he was completely deaf just months ago.

He is one of five children whose hearing was restored through a revolutionary new gene therapy in a clinical trial led by Chinese and American researchers, offering new hope for those born with a rare genetic mutation.

Yangyang’s mother Chang Yiyi says she was moved to tears when she realized, around three weeks after the treatment last September, that Yangyang could hear her knocking on the door.

“I hid in a closet and called for him, and he still responded!” she told AFP in an interview from Shanghai.

The results of the study, published Wednesday in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine, mark the first time the procedure was performed on both ears. This led to significant improvements in speech …