Genes responsible for human hereditary deafness: symphony of a thousand
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Updated: Oct 28, 2026

Surgical Method for Virally Mediated Gene Delivery to the Mouse Inner Ear through the Round Window Membrane
Published on: March 16, 2015
1Unité de Génétique Moléculaire Humaine, URA 1968, CNRS, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. cpetit@pasteur.fr
Abstract:
Hearing loss is the most frequent sensory defect in humans. Dozens of genes may be responsible for the early onset forms of isolated deafness and several hundreds of syndromes with hearing loss have been described. Both the difficulties encountered by linkage analysis in families affected by isolated deafness and the paucity of data concerning the molecular components specifically involved in the peripheral auditory process, have long hampered the identification of genes responsible for hereditary hearing loss. Rapid progress is now being made in both fields. This should allow completion of major pieces of the jigsaw for understanding the development and function of the ear.
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