Genetics of deafness: recent advances and clinical implications

Abstract

Genetic research into the causes of deafness has advanced considerably in the last years. Progress has been made in both discovering loci and cloning genes associated with syndromic and non-syndromic hearing loss. To date, close to 75 loci have been identified and 29 genes have been cloned for non-syndromic deafness. The proteins these genes encode range from transcription factors to molecular motors to ion channels. We review the recent discoveries and discuss the impact of this research.