Genetics of Tinnitus

Tinnitus is a highly prevalent hearing disorder in adults. Over 50 million Americans experience some form of tinnitus, and almost 20 million people struggle with clinical CT, while 2 million have extreme and debilitating cases. Noise, music, smoking, ototoxicity, ear infections, and hearing loss are the major risk factors for tinnitus. However, almost 50% of tinnitus cases are not attributable to any known environmental cause, and there is a likely genetic component to tinnitus susceptibility. Our team is conducting a genome-wide association study to uncover the genetic architecture of tinnitus for developing novel prevention and treatment approaches.