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The Grand Prix Scientifique 2023 celebrates the work of a scientist or doctor who has made a significant discovery in the field of hearing. The Fondation Pour l'Audition has now awarded Professor Barbara Canlon, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, the prize that rewards leading research.

An international team of researchers has developed a new method to deliver drugs into the inner ear, according to a new study in Science Translational Medicine. The discovery was possible by harnessing the natural flow of fluids in the brain and employing a little-understood backdoor into the cochlea. When combined to deliver a gene therapy that repairs inner ear hair cells, the researchers were able to restore hearing in deaf mice.

Screening programmes for childhood hearing loss need to become better at collecting data and measuring outcomes in order to increase quality, such as improving the percentage of follow-ups, a new thesis from Karolinska Institutet reports.

Using gene expression data from different cell types in the inner ear and brain, researchers have been able to identify the cell types that mainly contribute to hearing loss. The findings confirm that hearing loss does not derive from the brain but from a distinct compartment in the cochlea, called the stria vascularis, which is the “powerhouse” of the inner ear. The study has been published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

There has to date been no reliable objective method of diagnosing tinnitus. Researchers from Karolinska Institutet now show that brainstem audiometry can be used to measure changes in the brain in people with constant tinnitus. The study has been published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The Deutsche Tinnitus Stiftung Charité has announced the creation of “The Research Prize in Tinnitus and Hearing”, awarded to outstanding achievements in the research areas covering causes, early detection and therapy of tinnitus and hearing damage.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified four types of neurons in the peripheral auditory system, three of which are new to science. The analysis of these cells can lead to new therapies for various kinds of hearing disorders, such as tinnitus and age-related hearing loss. The study is published in Nature Communications.

Researchers have been able to demonstrate the hereditary nature of certain forms of tinnitus. Bilateral tinnitus – that is, tinnitus in both ears – has been shown to depend on genetic factors, particularly in men. The twin study, which is published in the journal Genetics in Medicine, was conducted by researchers at Karolinska Institutet together with colleagues from GENYO in Granada, Spain, as part of the European research network TINNET.