# The Study of cochlear synaptopathy

> **NIH NIH R01** · PLATTSBURGH STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $271,412

## Abstract

Summary
This study will address the following important issues in research of noise-induced cochlear
synaptopathy (NICS) in humans: (1) whether synaptopathy occurs in noise-exposed workers;
(2) if so, how to measure cochlear synaptopathy in humans; and (3) the association between
the type of noise exposure and NICS. This will be addressed as follows:
 (1) Collecting a large number of human subjects with well-documented noise exposure data
 from diverse industrial settings. This will consist of the following: i) digitally record
 complete shift-long temporal waveforms of the noise that individual workers are exposed
 to (8-hour) in a variety of heavy industries; ii) obtain audiograms from workers exposed
 to each of the specific noise environments; iii) screen subjects using high-frequency
 audiometry and Distortion product optoacoustic emission to confirm that the selected
 subjects have normal hearing thresholds and normal cochlear functions.
 (2) Conducting three supra-threshold measures for detecting cochlear synaptopathy in
 selected subjects. Four hypotheses related to NICS in humans and the relationship
 between the type of noise exposure and NICS will be tested using these three measures.
The proposed study will be the first large investigation of synaptopathy in noise-exposed
workers. The data collection and measurement techniques outlined in this proposal are very
innovative and will help us to explore NICS in noise-exposed workers. Over the proposed 5-year
course of this research 11 groups of subjects with 100/group will be collected and investigated.
The success of the project will be extremely useful to understand how to measure synaptopathy
in humans and apply it to develop a more accurate hearing protection protocol.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9902185
- **Project number:** 5R01DC015990-04
- **Recipient organization:** PLATTSBURGH STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** WEI QIU
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $271,412
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-04-21 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9902185

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9902185, The Study of cochlear synaptopathy (5R01DC015990-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9902185. Licensed CC0.

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