Appreciation for Division 6
The April 15 article by Robert Sweetow for this page was contributed courtesy of Special Interest Division 6, Hearing and Hearing Disorders: Research and Diagnostics.
Division 6 provides a forum for collaboration between researchers and clinicians to translate research into evidence-based practice related to hearing and balance. Through the division, ASHA members who are basic and applied hearing researchers have the opportunity to pursue topics of mutual interest. The division also is the ASHA liaison with the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
ASHA Special Interest Divisions 6, 7, 8, and 9 have been invaluable to the audiology page in The ASHA Leader. We would like to express appreciation for their contributions.
Inherited Hearing Loss
Scientists have demonstrated that a specific mutation in mitochondrial DNA causes deafness. This discovery, published in the January 2008 issue of Clinical Genetics, is based on a study of a large North American family with maternally inherited deafness.
Earlier studies had identified two large, unrelated families with many cases of progressive deafness passed to the next generation by the mother. Both families had a rare gene mutation located on the mitochondrial DNA. Scientists identified the mutation as 7510T>C, but were not confident that it was responsible for the families' deafness.
Recently, scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders identified a third large North American family with hereditary maternally linked deafness. One mutation—the same 7510T>C mutation in the other two families—was found only in family members with hearing loss.
Scientists analyzed the mitochondrial DNA from 200 unrelated individuals without hearing loss and concluded that their data provide strong genetic evidence that the 7510T>C mutation causes deafness. The research will improve the genetic counseling of individuals with hearing loss after genetic testing. The mutated gene also provides researchers with clues that, with further research, could lead to drugs for treating deafness.
For Your Review: Deadline for Comments Is May 13
The draft document, Service Provision to Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Birth to 36 Months, prepared by the Joint Committee of ASHA and the Council on Education of the Deaf (CED) is now available for peer review. Current and past members of the ASHA-CED Joint Committee include Gwendolyn Wilson, vice president for professional practices in audiology (2007–2009); Roberta Aungst, Linda Charlebois,
Lawrence Fleischer, Lorrie Robin Gaschler, Gayla Hutsell, Ginger Jones, George T. Mencher, Kym Meyer (chair), Rachel Friedman Narr, Marilyn Sass-Lehrer, and Anne Oyler (ex-officio).
This document replaces the 1994 ASHA-CED Joint Committee Technical Report: Service Provision Under IDEA-Part H to Children Who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing Age Birth to 36 Months.
To read the document and complete the online peer review form, visit ASHA's Web site. The deadline for comments is May 13.КCopies of the document and peer review form also are available from the ASHA Action Center, 800-498-2071.