Hearing Institute

1. To carry out high-quality fundamental research to elucidate the principles and mechanisms underlying:

• The development and functioning of the auditory system.
• Auditory perception and cognition.
• Communication through sound.
• Multisensory integration.
• Interactions between the genome and the acoustic environment, etc.

2. To develop translational approaches facilitating:

• An understanding of the pathogenesis of sensorineural hearing loss, whether occurring in isolation or as part of a syndrome or a general disease, particularly for neurodegenerative diseases.
• The development of multiparametric tools for diagnosing hearing impairments affecting the auditory sensory organ, the cochlea, its innervation or its central region, for precision medicine.
• The development of innovative therapeutic approaches (pharmacological and gene therapies, and probably also cell therapy in the near future) for children, young adults and older individuals. These approaches will also address balance problems (due to defects of the vestibule, a sensory organ that together with the cochlea, which it resembles, forms the inner ear).
• The development of auditory rehabilitation based on advances in scientific knowledge, including an understanding of the mechanisms underlying auditory cortex plasticity, in particular.

3. To transmit the knowledge generated at the institute to the international medical, paramedical and scientific community, to inform those with hearing loss of the potential impact of any discoveries, and to raise awareness among the general public of the issues associated with hearing impairment.