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A team of hearing specialists at Vanderbilt Health analyzed thousands of data samples in the institution's BioVU biobank to understand genetic susceptibility of sensorineural hearing loss, which is caused by damage to the inner ear. Their study is published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

The team, composed of investigators from clinical audiology, ear surgery and general otolaryngology, was led by co-first author Andie DeFreese, AuD, a clinical audiologist and Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at Vanderbilt Health.

"The purpose of our study was to understand the genetic architecture of sensorineural hearing loss," DeFreese said. "Long term, we want to be able to identify our patients with hearing loss before it ever emerges."

As with any sensory condition that involves a patient's subjective perception, understanding the specifics of a given case of hearing loss can present a challenge. While physiological measurements exist to characterize hearing loss, audiologists also benefit from attempting to understand the subtle details of a given patient's experience.

Traditionally, diagnostic codes that identify medical conditions are used to describe a patient's hearing loss, but these are used primarily for billing purposes and may not capture the nuance of an individual case, DeFreese said.

"Diagnostic codes are very common because that's the data that's available in large genetic biobanks that facilitate this research," she added.

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