Scientists find hearing loss gene

Editor: Efforts to understand hearing loss, with an eye towards reversing it, continue in research centers throughout the world. This notice from the University of Michigan addresses one recent discovery.

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March 2009

A new type of hearing loss and the gene causing it have been identified by an international team of scientists. The discovery makes it possible to be screened for this specific type of hearing loss.

SLC17A8 is the designation for the gene associated with the newly identified type of hearing loss. The discovery was made by scientists from the United States, Germany and France. It opens new possibilities for individuals as well as science.

The SLC17A8 gene causes a previously unidentified kind of congenital hearing loss, characterized by diminished ability to hear high frequency sounds. The degree of hearing loss and at what age it appears vary from one individual to the next, according to one of the researchers behind the discovery, Marci Lesperance of the University of Michigan Health Systems.

Gene test possible

One direct result of the discovery is that a simple screening for the gene can identify a disposition to the specific type of hearing loss associated with SLC17A8.

Whether or not you seek such a screening, Lesperance urged all people with hearing impaired relatives to be careful about and aware of potentially heightened risks to their hearing. They should go for frequent hearing screenings, she stated, and they should avoid exposure to smoking, excessive noise and other known hearing loss risk factors.

New knowledge about age related hearing loss