Summary/Abstract This is an application for renewal of T32 DC000023, “Research Training in Hearing and Balance” to the Center for Hearing and Balance (CHB) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Pre-doctoral (4) and postdoctoral (4) training slots are requested. The interdepartmental Center for Hearing and Balance brings together expertise from across the Johns Hopkins University to inspire and promote research into basic mechanisms of hearing and balance, pathogenesis and innovative therapeutic strategies. While training opportunities are widespread and deep within each of the home departments, the mission of the Center is to provide a common knowledge base and technical expertise for trainees to advance their hearing and balance-related research goals. Research progress at all levels from molecular genetic to public health depends on well-trained investigators who are knowledgeable about hearing and balance from peripheral mechanisms to behavioral consequences. To accomplish that goal, auditory and vestibular studies employ integrated knowledge from engineering, biology and behavior. The training faculty of this T32 spans that wide range of knowledge and expertise and so uniquely prepares pre- and postdoctoral trainees at Hopkins for this field. The inclusion of a strong cohort of clinician-scientists ensures that trainees will understand the relationship of their research training to health and disease.

Project Narrative Research training in hearing and balance requires a wide range of experimental and theoretical knowledge. This training program brings together experts from molecular genetics to population health to produce the next generation of scientists addressing these all-important senses. The gradual decrement of hearing and balance in our increasingly aged population makes this effort especially meaningful.