Recent progress in hereditary hearing loss

Abstract

Congenital hereditary hearing loss (HHL) occurs in 1 in 1000 live births, but the majority of hearing loss in the population is late-onset. Although it is clear that many genes can cause late-onset hearing loss, the extent of their contribution to hearing loss in the population is unknown. Recent identification of specific genes that cause HHL allows for the determination of population prevalence of some HHL and will likely accelerate the discovery of other HHL genes.