House Ear Institute
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The House Institute Foundation (HIF), formerly the House Ear Institute, is a non-profit
501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
organization, based in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, and dedicated to advancing hearing science through research, education, and global hearing health to improve quality of life.


History

Established in 1946 by Howard P. House, as the Los Angeles Foundation of Otology, and later renamed for its founder, the House Institute Foundation has been engaged in the scientific exploration of the auditory system from the ear canal to the cortex of the brain for over 70 years. Since 1946, the House Institute Foundation has led the way in defining the causes of hearing and balance disorders, improving medical/surgical procedures and prosthetic devices. The Institute's discoveries have helped millions of people receive successful treatments. House Institute Foundation scientists have been involved in many firsts in the fields of otology, neurotology, skull base surgery, implantable auditory prostheses, and electrophysiology. They have developed techniques to improve hearing aids, diagnostic audiology, and clinical treatments for hearing loss. House Institute researchers have always worked with the House Clinic physicians to integrate medicine and science through clinical and research trials that directly benefit patients. In 1969, William F. House, M.D.—brother of Howard—implanted the first three patients with the
cochlear implant A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted neuroprosthesis that provides a person who has moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss with sound perception. With the help of therapy, cochlear implants may allow for improved speech und ...
at House Institute Foundation. Since then, the Institute has been regarded as the world's foremost private research institute for
otology Otology is a branch of medicine which studies normal and pathological anatomy and physiology of the ear (hearing and vestibular sensory systems and related structures and functions) as well as their diseases, diagnosis and treatment. Otologi ...
and hearing science. House Institute Foundation's historical advancements in hearing sciences include the development of the first clinically useful
cochlear implant A cochlear implant (CI) is a surgically implanted neuroprosthesis that provides a person who has moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss with sound perception. With the help of therapy, cochlear implants may allow for improved speech und ...
and
auditory brainstem implant An auditory brainstem implant (ABI) is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf, due to retrocochlear hearing impairment (due to illness or injury damaging the cochlea or auditory n ...
as well as the introduction of the first the middle cranial fossa and then the translabyrinthine approach for removal of
acoustic neuroma A vestibular schwannoma (VS), also called acoustic neuroma, is a benign tumor that develops on the vestibulocochlear nerve that passes from the inner ear to the brain. The tumor originates when Schwann cells that form the insulating myelin sheath ...
s. The translabyrinthine approach uses the operating microscope and reduced mortality rates from 40% (in California) to less than 1%. It has also developed a variety of diagnostic tests, including the Hearing In Noise Test (HINT), the first hearing test that measures an individual's functional hearing ability in everyday environments where background noise is present, the ABaer screening device for detecting hearing loss in infants, and the Stacked ABR, a highly accurate screening device to detect the presence or absence of acoustic neuromas. The Institute shares its knowledge with the scientific and medical communities as well as the general public through its education and global hearing health programs. House Clinic physicians have volunteered their time to teach specialty courses in the House Institute Foundation's professional education programs, attended by more than 22,000 doctors and research fellows since 1946 through the visiting physicians program. Through one week surgical temporal bone courses, thousands of doctors from every continent have come to study ear surgery. In June 2014, the House Institute Foundation, at that time called the House Ear Institute, went through bankruptcy proceedings and reorganization. The House Clinic Foundation, which acquired the House Ear Institute, reorganized the structure of the nonprofit organization and established it again as the House Institute Foundation in 2019. The current, threefold mission of the House Institute Foundation is Education, Research, and Global Hearing Health. The Education projects of the Institute include the Neurotology Clinical Fellowship program performed in conjunction with the House Clinic; the Visiting Physicians program for worldwide doctors interested in ear surgery; and the Temporal Bone Surgical Dissection Courses. Research at the House Institute Foundation currently involves collaborative research in the areas of Hearing Science (Dr. Sig Soli and collaborators), Auditory Implants (through collaboration with researchers at UCLA and Huntington Medical Research Institutes), and support of ongoing clinical trials performed by the House Clinic physicians and collaborators. Clinical and translational research projects are given high priority, with a focus on developing treatments that will directly benefit patients. Global Hearing Health is a new focus of HIF, through its own efforts in humanitarian otology (Neurotology Clinical Fellows spend a rotation on humanitarian worldwide otology) and through a collaboration with Global ENT Outreach. HIF partners also with the international arm of the American Academy of Otolaryngology Foundation, through the humanitarian committee, the Panamerican committee, and efforts by individual HIF scientists and physicians. Ongoing collaborative global health projects are underway in China, Ecuador, Peru, Malawi, and Paraguay.


References


External links

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The House Institute Foundation Facebook Page

The House Institute Foundation YouTube Page

The House Institute Foundation Professional Video Library

The House Institute Foundation Instagram Page

The House Institute Foundation Twitter Page

House Ear Institute ResearchGate page

House Ear Institute Research in Auditory Implants

William House--in Memoriam

William House--Medical Innovator

Global ENT Outreach, House Ear Institute's Global Health Partner
{{authority control Medical research institutes in California Otology Organizations based in Los Angeles