Thursday October 4th 1:30 pm
Speakers: Nancy McKenna, AuD and Arti Pandya, MD
Title: Genetics and Hearing Loss
Hearing loss is the most common neurosensory deficit that affects 1 in 500 children, with profound loss identified in 1 in 1000 newborns. The past few decades have witnessed remarkable progress in early detection of hearing loss through audiologic newborn screening and in identifying a genetic cause for a large proportion of profound loss. The completion of the Human Genome Project and other advances in developing mouse models for hearing loss have enabled identifying more than 250 genes that are important in both non- syndromic and syndromic forms of hearing loss. With the availability of technology to interrogate the genome and the recent initiative for Precision Medicine there are definite opportunities to tailor the care and management of children and adults with hearing loss. In the presentation, I propose to use case-based approach to highlight the advantages and limitations for such an approach.
