Cochlear purinergic adaptation as a biomarker for vulnerability to noise-induced hearing loss

This study investigates hearing adaptation to noise stress. Studies in mice will genetically alter elements of the cochlear’s (purinergic) hearing adaptation mechanism and determine the effect on an audio metric ‘hearing adaptation signature’ to noise stress and vulnerability to noise and age-related hearing loss. In the context of workplace noise and genetic profile, clinical studies will establish a prognostic hearing test of vulnerability to noise and age-related hearing loss.