Aging and hearing loss--a genetics-based investigation

Animal-model study of physiological and cognitive basis of speech perception

Assessment of algorithm technique for estimating pitch strength in adults and children

Assessment of different clinical tools to measure hearing loss in infants

Bacterial meningitis and hearing loss

Biochemistry of middle ear effusions and their role in chronic otitis media

Brain's perception of speech

Causes of hearing loss in Ugandan children

Changes in auditory genes during aging relative to severity of progressive high frequency hearing loss

Cholesteatoma�causative genetic factors and potential intervention

Cochlear degeneration, rescue and repair after damage from stroke, trauma or noise

Cochlear genetics, mechanics, structures and frequency perception

Cochlear implant study evaluating simultaneous processing of electrical and acoustic sound information

Cochlear implants�do two improve wearer's sound localization abilities?

Comparison of sound processing by normal and hearing-impaired listeners

Construction of artificial organ of Corti to study inner ear hair cells

Correlation of hearing loss at specific frequencies with inner ear hair cell loss

Development of blood test for genetic susceptibility to age-related deafness

Development of gene-transfer technique to study hereditary nonsyndromic hearing loss

Development of goldfish model to study inner ear hair cell regeneration

Development of instrument for in vivo imaging of cochlear internal structures

Development of microarray of human cochlear cDNA transcripts on glass slides

Development of mutant mouse model to study hearing in noisy backgrounds

Developmental genetic investigations of inner ear hair cells

Developmental genetic study of cochlear mosaic and perception of sound

Developmental genetic study of connexins (cochlear proteins)

Developmental study of influence of protein on ion channels encoding auditory signals

Does the molecule PTF block cell-death signaling molecule p53 after noise exposure?

Effect of early deafness on development of central auditory pathway and implications for cochlear implants

Effects of acoustic input on auditory brainstem neurons

Electrophysiological investigation of identity of auditory and vestibular neurotransmitters

Encoding and transformation of auditory information

Evaluation of hearing aid speech-processing systems on speech intelligibility

Evaluation of neural response to cochlear implant electrodes and prediction of function

Expansion of database for inner ear proteins in health and disease

Experimental anti-inflammatory drug treatment for sudden sensorineural hearing loss

Experimental anti-oxidant therapy to prevent or reverse noise-induced hearing loss

Experimental genetic therapies relevant to inner ear hair cell regeneration

Experimental genetic therapy to correct gene dysfunctions responsible for deafness

Experimental preventive approach to calcium-imbalance based tinnitus

Experimental protective treatment against ototoxic chemotherapy drug cisplatin

Experimental system to deliver neural embryonic stem cells to inner ear

Experimental therapy for labyrinthitis ossificans caused by pneumococcal meningitis

Exploration of the neurophysiology of the vestibular system

Familial study of autosomal dominant hereditary hearing loss

Feasibility of preserving functioning inner ear hair cells during cochlear implant insertion

Genetic analysis of human temporal bones in normal and otosclerotic cochlea

Genetic comparison of developing inner ear hair cells from transgenic and normal mice

Genetic factors important in inner ear hair cell development and regeneration

Genetic investigations of ion channels during inner ear hair cell development

Genetic studies of hearing loss from anti-cancer drugs and from antibiotics

Genetic studies of progressive hereditary hearing loss

Genetic study of apoptosis (cell death) in vestibular neurons from antibiotics

Genetic study of ion-transport mechanisms in otitis media

Genetic study of minerals in membranous covering of vestibular hair cells

Genetic study of noise-induced changes to brainstem connections to outer hair cells

Genetic study of the ototoxic drug neomycin's frequency-specific targeting of hair cells

Genetic study of potential of Src kinase enzymes to prevent cochlear hair cell death

Genetic study of the role of viruses in sudden hearing loss and Meniere's disease

Genetic study of viral strains relevant to respiratory infections and otitis media

Genetic technique to identify inner ear hair cell potassium channel subunits

Genetics of abnormal protein expression in otitis media

Genetics of auditory function, dysfunction and deafness

Genetics of effects of noise on expression of cochlear proteins

Genetics of growth factors expressed in the inner ear

Genetics of inner ear hair cell development and regeneration

Genetics of regulatory mechanisms important in Meniere�s disease

Growth factor-stimulated hair cell regeneration/repair in mammalian vestibular system

Hearing aid design that enhances speech perception

Hearing aid study evaluating directional microphones

Hearing loss from genetic mechanisms in outer hair cells of cochlea

High frequency hearing loss as possible result of genetic mutations in other diseases

How aminoglycoside antibiotics cause inner ear hair cell death and effectiveness of experimental protective caspase therapy

How auditory cortex processes sound and the effect of absence of sound stimulation

How auditory neural circuitry integrates sensory information; how it is affected by combined acoustic and electric stimulation

How auditory training influences sound discrimination and language processing abilities

How children with normal hearing comprehend speech in noisy environments

How CNS and auditory system cooperate to protect cochlea from noise damage

How cochlea encodes vowel sounds

How congenital deafness affects auditory nerve connections in the brain

How ear "calculates" differences in the time that sounds arrive at both ears

How hearing ability affects speech and implications for deaf children

How hearing aid configuration affects speech production by hearing-impaired children

How hearing-impaired children with hearing aids or cochlear implants recognize speech

How intense sound alters gene expression in central auditory pathways

How sound produced via a cochlear implant activates the brain (as measured by fMRI)

How inner ear hair cells change of mechanical energy of sound to electrical energy during transmission to brain

How noise-induced hearing loss results from alteration in cochlear blood flow

In cochlear implantees, attempt to define whether device or user is responsible for speech-perception difficulties

In mutant mouse, study of inner ear protein important to vestibular health

Infant hearing impairment and speech development

Infant hearing measurement technique development

Investigation attempting to establish and transplant cultures of adult chick inner ear hair cell progenitors

Investigation into trans-differentiation and regeneration of growth-factor induced vestibular hair cells

Investigation of auditory system role in specific language impairment

Investigation of autoimmune disease of the inner ear

Investigation of causative bacterial mechanism in otitis media

Investigation of drugs that may block the harmful effects of noise

Investigation of experimental genetic procedure to protect hearing in noise

Investigation of extent of regeneration of fetal neural cells and stem cells previously implanted into the vestibulocochlear (VIIIth) nerve

Investigation of neural mechanisms in discrimination of consonant and vowels

Investigation of profoundly deaf speech

Investigation of role of cytokines in autoimmune inner ear disease

Investigation of whether auditory efferent system protects against noise

Investigation of whether growth factors NT-3 and BDNF affect auditory nerve fibers

Investigation of why hearing impaired listeners have difficulty recognizing speech

Investigation relative to developing ways for professional divers to prevent hearing loss

Investigation seeking relationship among vascular dysfunction, atherosclerotic disease and auditory pathologies

Mathematical model to study electrical forces in protein essential for hearing

Meniere's disease study focusing on action of diuretic hormone

Methods to derive stem cells from human inner ear, proliferate them and analyze them

MRI studies to map auditory structures

Neurotransmitter mechanisms in the inner ear sensory cells

Neurotransmitter study relevant to balance disorders

New method for testing youngsters' speech perception abilities

Possible therapy for type of hearing loss associated with Meniere's disease

Potential of therapeutic growth-factor treatment to restore hearing structures

Production of computer model to simulate electrical forces in hearing

Progressive hearing loss from different physiological and genetic causes

Project utilizing evoked potentials to study auditory pathways relevant to cochlear implantation of congenitally deaf children

Relationship of genes responsible for profound hearing loss to age-related hearing loss

Research into cytomegalovirus (responsible for some 40,000 cases/year of hearing loss

Research into inner ear hair cell regeneration

Research into otoacoustic emissions

Research into presbycusis, age-associated hearing loss

Research into sudden-onset deafness

Research into tinnitus, ringing or other noises in the ear

Research to improve hearing aids and cochlear implants

Role of gastroesophageal reflux and of food allergy in otitis media

Role of immune system in response of auditory structures to injury

Screening, identification and treatment of children with otitis media in a Pakistani village

Search for the mutant gene in a dominant inheritance nonsyndromic hearing loss

Sound-caused changes to inner ear�s electric voltage

Sound localization and reverberation

Sound processing by inner ear hair cells through neurotransmitter-release to auditory nerve

Study of auditory information processing by brain during aging and age-related hearing loss

Study of auditory neuropathy due to hyperbilirubinemia

Study of function and significance of protein Myosin V, involved in inner ear calcium transport

Study of hair cell-auditory nerve synapses in age-related and noise induced deafness

Study of how genetic changes in the cochlea following pneumococcal ear infection affect development of chronic otitis media

Study of how oxygen free radicals cause hearing loss and test of preventive genetic therapy

Study of molecular biology of outer hair cells of cochlea, relative to immune disorders

Study of programmed cell death of inner ear hair cells following trauma

Study of the role of the cochlear protein BMP-4 in neuronal development

Study to define relationship between cells responsible for sound input and cells responsible for sound amplification

Study to test effect of electric stimulation on vestibular inner ear hair cell regeneration

Test of whether genetically altering response to cisplatin diminishes its ototoxic effect

Testing genes to determine if they initiate inner ear hair cell regeneration

Use of electroporation, a gene-transfer technique, to study developing inner ear

Utilization of the measurement of wide-band energy reflectance as a clinical tool

Vestibular study focusing on molecular development of inner ear structures

Visualization of guinea pig cochlear interior through sophisticated technique

Where in auditory cortex primate vocalizations are processed

Whether abnormal cochlear homeostasis causes hearing loss in Meniere's disease

Whether anti-viral drugs improve some auditory and vestibular disorders

Whether cholesterol mechanism is connected to hearing loss; whether cholesterol-lowering drug has protective effect

Whether different drugs affect cochlea's frequency specificity

Whether fetal alcohol exposure causes deafness by altering retinoic acid levels

Whether visual stimulation after deafness preserves brain�s auditory-processing areas

OTHER GRANTS

"Occupational Hearing Loss and Tinnitus in the Music Industry"

Publication of Proceedings of "Second International Symposium on Middle-Ear Mechanics in Research and Otosurgery"