The Workshop Otoacoustic Emissions: Evoking the Future will be held at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California on February 7?8, 2018. The Workshop will bring together leading researchers from around the world for the dual purpose of elucidating the many factors underlying the generation of otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) and transforming the future application of OAEs as noninvasive probes of hearing function. The goal is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for junior and senior sci- entists to share, synthesize, and debate innovative research and ideas about all aspects of otoacous- tic emissions. The principal focus of the Workshop will be on making otoacoustic emissions into a more powerful tool for the detection and diagnosis of hearing loss. The specific objectives are to fos- ter constructive interactions, promote a sense of community, and encourage the development of col- laborative research in order to expedite the development of emerging and future applications of OAEs in the clinic. The Workshop will also provide a supportive scientific setting that offers graduate and post-doctoral students an invaluable opportunity to discuss their work, develop new ideas, and talk with young and established investigators. The Workshop is being jointly organized by researchers from the University of Southern California and Northwestern University. The Huntington Library pro- vides an ideal setting for encouraging intense and invigorating discussions in a collegial atmosphere.
TO HUMAN HEALTH Despite their success in the detection of hearing loss, otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) have yet to real- ize their full potential as probes of cochlear health. In most clinics, OAEs currently provide only a lim- ited thumbs-up/thumbs-down assay of hearing. However, anticipated future pharmacological and ge- netic treatments for hearing loss will require advanced noninvasive diagnostic tests that can both de- tect hearing loss and distinguish among hearing losses with different underlying deficits and etiolo- gies. Building on recent research that has revealed the power of OAEs to gauge cochlear properties such as nonlinearity, amplification, and frequency tuning, the workshop Otoacoustic Emissions: Evok- ing the Future will bring together leading and aspiring researchers from around the world to transform the future application of OAEs as noninvasive probes of cochlear function and hearing.
