The two specific clinical features of patients with SLC26A4 mutations are inner ear malformations and fluctuating hearing loss. For decades, the latter has constituted a treatment difficulty for pediatric otologists, because traditional regimens, such as steroid or intracranial-pressure-lowering-medication, usually could not achieve satisfactory and predictable outcomes. Nevertheless, as basic researches in recent years began to shed light on the pathogenesis of hearing loss from SLC26A4 mutations, novel strategies could be developed based on some of these crucial findings. For instance, disequilibrium between acid and base in the inner ear was reported to be an important factor leading to deafness in SLC26A4 knock-out mice. And for acid-base homeostasis in the inner ear, proton pumps were found to demonstrate antagonistic effects to pendrin, the protein encoded by SLC26A4. Consequently, regimens which can modulate the function of proton pumps, like proton pump inhibitors, might be a good choice to prevent or treat acute or chronic hearing loss related to SLC26A4 mutations or degenerative dysfunction.