Genetic Cause of Age-related Hearing Loss, Found at Indiana U

Filed in archive Studies on May 22, 2006

We slowly lose our hearing as we age. That is already known. But maybe some people faster than others. Then we can blame it to our genetic make-up. Indeed, researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine are already gearing towards full understanding of the genetics that make people more susceptible to hearing loss as they age.

In a study of 50 pairs of fraternal twins with hearing loss, the scientists uncovered evidence linking the hearing loss to a particular region of DNA that previously was tied to a hereditary form of progressive deafness that begins much earlier in life.

The work is believed to be the first genomic screening in search of genes associated with hearing loss using a sample of elderly people drawn from the general population. The 50 sets of twins were drawn from a group of twins who are veterans of World War II and the Korean War.

The study results suggest that the region of DNA discovered is in a region that may contain an important locus for hearing loss in the general population. This region of DNA identified by the IU researchers is a section of chromosome 3 named DFNA18 that has already been implicated in a 2001 study of hereditary deafness in a large German family.

Source: IU News Info