Dr. M. Charles Liberman, who forever changed the way professionals understand the root causes of hearing loss, received the Grand Prize of Science from France-based La Fondation Pour l’Audition.
The award, one of the highest honors given in hearing science, was presented to Dr. Liebermann at an awards ceremony in Paris, France on October 20, 2022.
La Fondation Pour l’Audition is a public interest foundation committed to bringing hearing loss research, health care and disease prevention together. As part of this mission, we reward and support pioneering hearing researchers.
Harold F. Schuknecht Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Liberman was previously Director of Mass Eye and Ear’s Eaton-Peabody Laboratories for more than 25 years and is still an investigator. . During his 50-year career, Dr. Liberman has led cutting-edge research into the pathological causes of hearing loss rooted in the inner ear. In 2009, Dr. Liberman co-discovered a phenomenon called cochlear synaptopathy. This phenomenon, also known as “hidden hearing loss,” is a groundbreaking discovery that has since expanded the global understanding of the causes of hearing loss.
Dr. Liebermann’s research overturned known dogma about the causes of inner ear hearing loss, and his work had a profound and lasting impact on the entire field of hearing science. Through his body of work and leadership at Mass Heron Doyer, Eaton’s Peabody Institute has evolved into one of the world’s leading hearing research centers. Congratulations on his impressive career and recognition for his enduring contributions. ”
Mark A. Varvares, MD, FACS, Chief of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, John W. Merriam/William W. Montgomery Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Revolutionary Discovery of Hidden Hearing Loss
According to the World Health Organization, hearing loss affects more than 5% of the world’s population, an estimated 430 million people.
One common complaint hearing clinicians receive from their patients is difficulty hearing in noisy environments. However, many of these patients do not show measurable hearing loss on an audiogram, widely considered the gold standard of hearing testing. To do. Dr. Liberman and Dr. Sharon Kujawa, Sheldon and Dorothea Buckler Chair in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Mass Eye and Ear and Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at Harvard Medical School, provided evidence for this discrepancy in 2009. clarified. Their extensive research showed that noise exposure and aging primarily damage synapses. Synapses connect hair cells to auditory nerve fibers and ultimately carry nerve signals to the brain. This deafness is now known as cochlear synaptopathy. Since the audiogram measures hair cell function, this synaptic loss is usually undocumented, giving rise to the popular term ‘hidden deafness’.
Dr. Liberman’s research also shows that administration of therapeutic agents called neurotrophins can successfully re-establish connections between hair cells and auditory nerve fibers in animal models. This research has led biotech companies to develop new treatments to treat hearing loss in people.
About Dr. Liebermann
Dr. Liberman joined Mass Eye and Ear as a research associate after earning a doctorate in physiology from Harvard University in 1976. In 1996 he was appointed Director of Eaton-Peabody Laboratories and contributed to the tremendous growth and fostering of his $12 million endowment for hearing research. From 2011 until 2022, Dr. Liberman also served as Associate Chief of Basic Research in Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. He is the former president of the Otorhinolaryngology Society.
Dr. Liberman has authored over 200 peer-reviewed papers throughout his career. He and his colleagues continue to study other hearing disorders, such as hidden hearing loss and tinnitus, in hopes of developing more sensitive tests and new treatments. Future research led by Dr. Liebermann is supported by a joint P50 grant on potential hearing loss from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and his separate NIH grant on mechanisms and potential treatments for noise-induced hearing loss in animal models. Divided into R01 grants.
