Toward a Self-Administered Hearing Protection Regimen

Abstract

This project aims to further both our basic understanding of the effects of different oral statins, with and without steroid drugs, on hearing loss and to compare the ability to protect hearing with the ability to protect hair cells and synapses within the cochlea. Concomitant with the laboratory studies, we are undertaking a small, innovative clinical trial to determine if the prevailing treatment (steroids) of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss can be improved by adding a short course of statins. Despite equipment failure of our original equipment and delays in the supply line due to manufacturing and COVID, we acquired our new sound booth and stand, ABR/OAE setup, noise speaker, laptop and software to run the system, oscilloscope, noise generator, and amplifier. We created a new type of mouse cage in order to be able to expose control and experimental animals simultaneously. We have validated, by dose-response, the noise exposure on noise-induced hearing loss in mice and have initiated our proposed laboratory studies. In anticipation of our clinical trial, we created and had approved our clinical protocol by the local IRB and the Army and have listed it on ClinicalTrials.gov

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2021
Accession Number
AD1156689

Entities

People

  • Donna S. Whitlon

Organizations

  • Northwestern University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Biomedical Research
  • Clinical Trials
  • Employment
  • Generators
  • Health Services
  • Hearing Disorders
  • Hearing Loss
  • Hearing Protection
  • Institutional Review Board
  • Laboratory Animals
  • Maryland
  • Mechanical Equipment
  • Medical Personnel
  • Noise Generators
  • Professional Development
  • Statins
  • Technology Transfer

Readers

  • Auditory Neuroscience/Auditory Physiology.
  • Clinical Trial Research.
  • Neurotrauma and Rehabilitation Medicine.