A diagnostic test for cochlear synaptopathy in humans

The EU-funded CochSyn project aims to develop a diagnosis tool for the first signs of permanent hearing damage. The non-invasive audio test quantifies cochlear synaptopathy defined as the damage to the cochlear auditory-nerve fibre synapses due to ageing, noise exposure or ototoxicity. Cochlear synaptopathy is associated with reduced speech intelligibility and occurs before the traditional audiogram shows signs of hearing damage. The new test is more sensitive and can quantify a widespread form of sensorineural hearing loss. In the current phase of the project, developers plan to fine-tune the test and build a normative dataset of outcomes for a diverse population of people at risk for synaptopathy to determine the application area and create a precise diagnostic interpretation.