This proposal requests renewal support of an integrated center for research, research training, information dissemination, and continuing education related to disorders of hearing and balance. Nine research projects are proposed; these include basic and clinical research using a variety of scientific approaches to study the auditory and vestibular systems. Research includes the following: biochemical and biophysical study of the myosin component of the hair cell adaptation motor; biophysical characterization of the ion channels which allow bushy cells of the cochlear nucleus to encode information at audio frequencies; morphological study of the effects of hearing loss on the structural integrity of the central auditory system; electrophysiological, anatomical, and immunocytochemical studies of the synaptic organization of the cochlear nucleus; neurophysiological analysis of interactions between somatosensory and auditory stimuli in cochlear nucleus; analysis of the representation of stimuli in a background of noise at three levels of the central auditory system of awake, behaving animals; electrophysiological study of recovery processes in the vestibular nuclei after vestibular nerve section; behavioral study of short-term adaptation of the vestibuloocular reflex in normal human subjects; and behavioral study of compensation for unilateral vestibular deafferentation in human patients, with the goal of improving physical therapy. These research projects provide an extraordinary opportunity to train basic and clinical scientists in auditory and vestibular research. A training program is proposed for predoctoral and postdoctoral students which will provide research training, as well as coursework, in both basic and clinical aspects of hearing and balance. The Center will conduct a program of information dissemination to the public; a variety of media will be exploited to publicize new advances in research and clinical treatment of auditory and vestibular disorders. A strong feature of this program is our collaborative arrangements with leading organizations of persons with bearing and balance disorders. A continuing education program is proposed which will convey the latest advances in research and clinical practice to physicians, nurses, physical therapists, and other health-care professionals. The integration of research, research training, information dissemination, and continuing education into a single center provides an unusual critical mass which can generate new knowledge and techniques and efficiently put that information into practice.
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