Deep phenotyping to understand hearing and hearing disorders: Protocol for a feasibility study.

Area of Science:

• Audiology and otolaryngology
• Public health research methodology

Background:

• Hearing loss affects 1.5 billion globally; tinnitus impacts 740 million.
• Urgent need for research into hearing loss, tinnitus, and hyperacusis.
• A Nottingham Hearing BioResource is proposed to accelerate research with willing volunteers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of recruiting and retaining a large, diverse general population sample for a hearing research bioresource.
• To identify effective recruitment channels and demographic/hearing status distributions for the bioresource.
• To evaluate the suitability of deep phenotyping tests and questionnaires for a large-scale study.

Main Methods:

• Feasibility study recruiting participants with or without hearing issues from the general population.
• Data collection included questionnaires (health, lifestyle, hearing, cognitive), noise exposure estimation, audiological tests, and hair samples.
• Measurements were repeated in-person and remotely to assess retention and reliability.

Main Results:

• Quantified the feasibility of recruiting and retaining a large general population sample.
• Identified effective recruitment strategies and participant demographic/hearing condition profiles.
• Provided insights into the suitability of various data collection methods for deep phenotyping.

Conclusions:

• The feasibility study successfully informed the recruitment strategy for the Nottingham Hearing BioResource.
• Findings will enable the establishment of a diverse volunteer pool for advancing hearing research.
• The study validated methods for reliable, repeatable deep phenotyping in hearing research.