Introduction Hearing loss currently affects almost 500 million people worldwide and this number is anticipated to rise to 900 million by 2050 as the world’s population ages and the number of individuals with age-related hearing loss (ARHL) increases (Blevins, 2018; WHO, 2018). This type of hearing loss is characterized by a decline in auditory function predominantly due to progressive loss of inner ear sensory hair cells and their synapses to auditory neurons (Yamasoba et al., 2013).
