New Methods in the Molecular Genetic Study and Treatment of Hearing Loss

¹ Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston

In genetics, both discovery and methodology are advancing at an accelerating rate. As a result, the role of clinicians, and in this case clinical audiologists, must be re-examined from time to time to assure the sort of cooperation that will maximize results for both the investigators and the patients. This article will briefly review the current state of molecular genetic methodology and relate the assumptions inherent in such methods to the character of the clinical data needed from the audiologist inthese cases. The basic assumption of most molecular biologic investigations of ear disease is that a binary (yes or no) diagnosis can be made by the audiologists and physicians as to the disease status of each member of an affected family. The binary assumption gives rise to a number of clinical diagnosis issues not easily understood by molecular biologists, and these issues are discussed in order to facilitate progress in genetic cases.

Key Words: hearing loss, genetic, methodology

Submitted on August 11, 1994
Accepted on March 17, 1995