Project Grant R21DC021756

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) awarded a $186,199 Project Grant (R21DC021756) to Utah State University (USU) to develop an automated analytical technique that can better identify sensory and neural pathologies underlying hearing loss compared to traditional visual inspection of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs). The 3-year project aims to automate the adjustment process of the existing technique so it can immediately analyze AEP data from different species, stimuli, and recording parameters. It will then test the technique's ability to distinguish several auditory pathologies in animal models compared to visual inspection and other automated approaches. This effort is a critical step toward translating animal morphological biomarkers to evaluate early-latency AEPs in humans, with the long-term goal of identifying underlying pathologies to enable more targeted treatments for sensorineural hearing loss.