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