This Center Grant, Mechanisms of Auditory and Vestibular Dysfunction, is a proposal to continue a set of interrelated multidisciplinary investigations into fundamental psychophysical, physiological, and morphological aspects of auditory and vestibular dysfunction. One set of investigations is concerned with the perceptual consequences of cochlear and retrocochlear malfunction in persons with hearing disorders. These psychophysical investigations include experiments designed to assess specific properties of impaired hearing, to relate those properties to deficits in speech perception and to better prosthesis design. Another set of investigations, involving animal models, is concerned with the physiological and anatomical correlates of well-defined, experimentally induced inner ear damage and the mechanisms by which this damage affects auditory function. Finally, experiments are proposed to assess, in humans, the consequences of inner ear disorders on vestibular function, with an emphasis on those disorders that also affect hearing. This project is a multidisciplinary effort involving collaboration among seven investigators with expertise in anatomy, auditory and vestibular physiology, sensory psychology, audiology, psychoacoustics and otolaryngology. The history of this program, currently in its eighteenth year, demonstrates both the financial efficiency and the scientific effectiveness of the Center-Grant concept. This collaborative program of research will continue to advance our understanding of the characteristics and mechanisms of hearing loss and vestibular dysfunction, and will continue to have direct implications for clinical diagnosis and eventual management of disorders of hearing and vestibular function.
