From left: Dr. Kristy Fraser-Kirk, ENT Surgeon and Director of ENT Department, Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Queensland, Australia; Dr. Shree Rao, Director and Cochlear Implant Surgeon, Dr. Rao's ENT Hospital, Hyderabad, India; Dr. Shankar B. Medikeri, ENT Surgeon and Director, Medikeri Super Specialty ENT Center, Bengaluru, India; and Prof. Choi Byung Yoon, MD, PhD, Professor of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Korea, at the 2nd Asia-Pacific Conference on Cochlear Implant Surgeries (APAC 2026) in Hyderabad.
Asia-Pacific Cochlear Implant Surgeons Convene In Hyderabad As Gene Therapy Enters Hearing Care
The 2nd Asia-Pacific Conference on Cochlear Implant Surgeries (APAC 2026) brought cochlear implant surgeons from across the Asia-Pacific region to Hyderabad on August 21–22, 2026. Chaired by Dr. Shree Rao, the meeting explored advances in cochlear implant surgery alongside the emerging potential and limitations of gene therapy for hereditary deafness.
The 2nd Asia-Pacific Conference on Cochlear Implant Surgeries (APAC 2026) was held at Dr. Rao's ENT Hospital, Hyderabad, in association with Advanced Bionics. Convened exclusively for practising cochlear implant surgeons, the two-day meeting brought together faculty and delegates from South Korea, Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia and across India.
Chaired by Dr. Shree Rao, Director and Cochlear Implant Surgeon at Dr. Rao's ENT Hospitals & Cochlear Implant Centre, the scientific programme included complex case discussions, cadaveric temporal bone dissection with electrode insertion, hands-on electrode-handling stations and a live cochlear implant surgery performed by Dr. Shree Rao and streamed from the operating theatre.
“Difficult anatomy and unexpected findings are a normal part of cochlear implant surgery, not a rarity. The value of a meeting like this is that we work through those scenarios in the laboratory in advance, alongside surgeons who have already met them, so that when one appears in the theatre, it is familiar rather than new.”Dr. Shree Rao, Conference Chair
A dedicated CME session, ‘The Horizon of Otology,’ was convened by Dr. Shree Rao at Park Hyatt Hyderabad on August 22. Prof. Choi Byung Yoon, MD, PhD, Professor of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Korea, delivered the keynote on ‘Gene Therapy for Hereditary Hearing Loss,’ including OTOF-related deafness, or DFNB9.
The session came four months after the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first gene therapy for a form of deafness caused by OTOF mutations. While clinical results have shown hearing recovery in most treated patients, OTOF accounts for only a small proportion of inherited deafness. GJB2, a common genetic cause in India, currently has no gene therapy, while genetic testing is not yet routine before implantation.
“Gene therapy will in time take some children off our operating lists, and that is exactly what we should want. For every other child, cochlear implant remains the answer — and the purpose of this research is to give those families a far more precise picture of the result they can expect.”Dr. Shree Rao, Director and Cochlear Implant Surgeon
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Scientific faculty included Dr. Kristy Fraser-Kirk, ENT Surgeon and Director of ENT Department, Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Queensland, Australia; Dr. Shankar B. Medikeri, ENT Surgeon and Director, Medikeri Super Specialty ENT Center, Bengaluru; Mr. Sunil Kapoor, Vice President, Asia-Pacific, Advanced Bionics; and Dr. Vinod Nadig, Managing Director, India, Advanced Bionics, alongside Prof. Choi Byung Yoon.
Dr. Shree Rao, Dr. G.V.K. Chaitanya Rao, and delegates on stage at the APAC 2026 conference
Faculty and delegates at the 2nd Asia-Pacific Conference on Cochlear Implant Surgeries (APAC 2026), held at Dr. Rao's ENT Hospital, Hyderabad, on August 21–22, 2026.
The conference also highlighted the BEEP Study, an Advanced Bionics collaboration examining evoked potential measurement in cochlear implant recipients, with Dr. Rao's ENT Hospital serving as its Asia-Pacific site.
Both editions of APAC have been convened by Dr. Rao's ENT Hospital, making it the only centre in the Asia-Pacific region to have hosted the meeting. The hospital has over three decades of clinical practice, more than 41,500 surgeries and full NABH accreditation.
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