The inner ear is a structurally complex vertebrate organ built to encode sound, motion, and
orientation in space. Given its complexity, it is not surprising that inner ear dysfunction is a …

Sound-induced mechanical stimuli are detected by elaborate mechanosensory transduction
(MT) machinery in highly specialized hair cells of the inner ear. Genetic studies of inherited …

Strong evidence suggests that rare mutations of severe effect are responsible for a
substantial portion of complex human disease. Evolutionary forces generate vast genetic …

Massively parallel sequencing of targeted regions, exomes, and complete genomes has
begun to dramatically increase the pace of discovery of genes responsible for human …

Hearing impairment is the most common sensory disorder, with congenital hearing
impairment present in approximately 1 in 1,000 newborns. Hereditary deafness is often …

The Drosophila auditory organ shares equivalent transduction mechanisms with vertebrate
hair cells, and both are specified by atonal family genes. Using a whole-organ knockout …

Periodic organization of cells is required for the function of many organs and tissues. The
development of such periodic patterns is typically associated with mechanisms based on …

Background Identification of genes responsible for medically important traits is a major
challenge in human genetics. Due to the genetic heterogeneity of hearing loss, targeted …

Research in the genetics of hearing and deafness has evolved rapidly over the past years,
providing the molecular foundation for different aspects of the mechanism of hearing …

Objective: To provide an overview of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies active in
the field of inner ear and central hearing disorders and their therapeutic approaches …