# Impact of Hearing Loss and Tinnitus in Cancer Survivors

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $952,927

## Abstract

Project Summary
Research on hearing loss and tinnitus associated with neurotoxic chemotherapy (CTX) has
focused primarily on pediatric patients. In adults, the extremely limited amount of work has
reported on hearing loss and tinnitus associated with the administration of platinum compounds
primarily in patients undergoing active treatment for testicular or head and neck cancer.
However, no studies have systematically evaluated hearing loss and tinnitus in cancer
survivors who received a platinum and/or a taxane compound for breast, gastrointestinal (GI),
gynecological (GYN), or lung cancer. Given that these diagnoses are the four most common
cancers in adults and platinum and taxane compounds are the mainstay of treatment for these
cancers, an evaluation of the severity and impact of hearing loss and tinnitus from these drugs
is a significant issue for cancer survivorship. Recently, we completed enrollment in our ongoing
R01 (CA151692) that is focused on an evaluation of differences in phenotypic and molecular
characteristics of chemotherapy-induced neuropathy (CIN) in 400 survivors with CIN and 200
survivors without CIN. In preliminary analyses data from 310 patients with CIN, 49.0% reported
hearing loss and/or tinnitus (i.e., 16.1% reported only hearing loss, 12.3% reported only tinnitus,
and 20.6% reported both hearing loss and tinnitus). In contrast, in the 79 patients without CIN,
72.2% did NOT report hearing loss or tinnitus. Given that almost 50% of the patients with CIN
reported some form of auditory toxicity, this grant application will focus on a more detailed
characterization of hearing loss and tinnitus to determine their underlying mechanisms and
impact of survivors' level of function and QOL. Blood samples will be collected and stored for
future genomic analyses. The primary aims of this study, in a sample of survivors who received
a platinum and/or a taxane compound and are classified into one of four groups (i.e., 1)
survivors without CIN, hearing loss, and tinnitus; 2) survivors with CIN and without hearing loss
and tinnitus; 3) survivors with CIN and only hearing loss; and 4) survivors with CIN and both
hearing loss and tinnitus), are to: 1) evaluate for differences among the four groups in subjective
and objective characteristics of hearing loss; 2) evaluate for differences among the four groups
in subjective characteristics of tinnitus; and 3) evaluate for differences among the four groups in
functional status, cognitive status, financial toxicity, and QOL. The secondary aim of this study is
to evaluate for changes over time in subjective and objective measures of CIN in the survivors
with CIN who were evaluated in CA151692. The information on etiology and severity, as well as
on the impact of these two types of auditory toxicity will be used to plan intervention studies to
improve hearing, reduce the impact of tinnitus, and assist cancer survivors to adapt to the long
term effects of hearing loss and tinnitus.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9990708
- **Project number:** 5R01CA212064-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** CHRISTINE A. MIASKOWSKI
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $952,927
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9990708

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9990708, Impact of Hearing Loss and Tinnitus in Cancer Survivors (5R01CA212064-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9990708. Licensed CC0.

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