About
Hearing impairment, the most frequent sensory deficit, has a dramatic economic impact on healthcare systems worldwide. The HearInNoise project will be focused on late onset and progressive hearing impairment, more amenable to therapy but for which the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Using mutant mice affected by progressive deafness as entry points, and using cutting edge approaches in biochemistry, cell biology, imaging, and physiology, our aims are to: i) disentangle the mechanisms and contribution of the hair cells and/or auditory neurons to the disease, ii) identify new key actors in the pre- and post-synapse organization and functioning, iii) study the impact of environment and/or age on severity of some deafness forms, and iv) implement innovative ear delivery approaches to slow down or halt hearing deterioration. Scientific, technical, and medical progresses are expected, creating promising therapeutic tools with potential applications to other forms of neurodegenerative disorders.
