Use

Hearing loss is one of the most common neurosensory disorders and can be genetic or acquired. Hearing loss can affect a person either at birth (congenital) or acquired at any stage of life, even if genetic in etiology.1 Determining the cause or origin of hearing loss in a patient is beneficial as it can enable a personalized approach to their care and treatment options if available. Syndromic hearing loss is characterized as hearing loss accompanied with other symptoms and accounts for 30% of all genetic hearing loss caes.1 Common hearing loss syndromes include Usher, which also causes loss of vision, Waardenburg, which is accompanied by changes in coloring and pigmentation of the hair skin and eyes, and Pendred, which causes dysfunction of the kidneys and thyroid.1-3 Nonsyndromic hearing loss is a partial or total loss of hearing that is not associated with other signs and symptoms. This type of hearing loss can affect one ear (unilateral) or both ears (bilateral), and can range in severity of loss from mild to profound, often referred to as “deafness.” In addition to autosomal dominant and recessive forms, nonsyndromic hearing loss can also be classified as X-linked or mitochondrial.4