One step forward...two steps back

Hearing damage moderate to profound effects 275 million people worldwide, but this week  researchers and doctors are one step closer to finding a cure. Auditory neuropathy is damage to the auditory nerve, which is located between the inner ear and the brain; this damage doesn't allow sound to travel from the cochlea to the brain. Using gerbils and stem cells, researchers are closer to finding out a way to fix hearing loss. The gerbils were given a drug to damage their auditory neuropathy, then researchers transplanted stem cells called otic epithelial progenitors (OEPs) into their inner ears. After ten weeks researchers noticed the transplanted cells starting to connect to the brain stem, and by using the auditory brain stem evoked responses method researchers noticed a 46% hearing improvement in the gerbils. This is a big step to improve hearing damage, it still has to come a long way for it to work for humans but it shows a way to make human cochlear sensory cells. 
This article caught my eye because I have an aunt and an uncle who were both born deaf. My aunt has a cochlear implant but my uncle does not, they sign with each other but are also able to talk and communicate with my family and their two children who both have perfect hearing. This article also drew my attention because of stem cell research. Stem cell research is a very controversial topic in the catholic faith.  Since the catholic religion believes  that life begins at contraception they are against stem cells because they are from human embryos. This topic is very debatable from the deaf community as well who believe nothing is wrong with them and therefore need no reason to be "fixed". I  believe that if this will help people hear then it should be used. Only time will tell if it will be successful and used on humans in the future.