Helping hearing recover after damage to the tiny nerve connections in the inner ear
Official title: Maximizing Hearing Recovery from Peri-Synaptic Damage
Funded at VA Loma Linda Healthcare System · NIH-11511710 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks for the best timing and medicines to help the tiny nerve connections inside the ear heal so people who lose hearing from loud noise or certain drugs can regain more hearing.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | VA Loma Linda Healthcare System NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Loma Linda, United States) |
| Project start | February 1, 2020 |
| Project end | July 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| NIH project number | 5I01RX002813-07 |
| Project ID | NIH-11511710 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People who recently lost hearing after loud noise exposure or after treatment with ototoxic drugs (for example aminoglycoside antibiotics or cisplatin) and who hope for synapse-targeted therapies would be the most relevant candidates for eventual trials.
✕Less likely to help
People whose hearing loss is long-standing, due to complete loss of hair cells, conductive hearing problems, or non-inner-ear causes (for example brain injury) are less likely to benefit from synapse-focused therapies.
What this research studies
From a patient point of view, researchers are studying how common causes of hearing loss — loud noise and some medicines like aminoglycoside antibiotics or cisplatin — damage the tiny synapses that connect sensory hair cells to hearing nerves. They use laboratory models to reproduce that nerve-connection damage and compare how it looks after noise versus drug exposure. The team will test different doses and time windows when treatments might protect or repair those connections and will screen candidate drugs that could help recovery. The goal is to find approaches that could be moved into human testing so more hearing can be saved or restored after these kinds of injuries.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to treatments that restore more hearing after noise or drug-related inner-ear nerve damage by identifying effective drugs and the best time to give them.
How similar studies have gone: Prior animal studies have shown that synaptic connections can be damaged by noise or drugs and that some interventions can protect or partly restore them in animals, but translating these findings into proven human treatments remains early.
Where this research is happening
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VA Loma Linda Healthcare System
Loma Linda, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Li, Hongzhe — VA Loma Linda Healthcare System
- Study coordinator: Li, Hongzhe
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.