NIDCD Issues Next Round Of Projects

As previously outlined in the HIA UPDATE and discussed by Dr. Lucille Beck at the 2010 HIA Annual Meeting, NIDCD has offered two funding opportunities in response to the August 2009 NIDCD research working group on Accessible and Affordable Hearing Health Care (AAHHC) for Adults with Mild to Moderate Hearing Loss. The working group is developing a research agenda to increase accessibility and affordability of hearing healthcare for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss.

An initial round of funding opportunities was issued in the Spring of 2010, and Dr. Beck will again provide an update at the 2011 Annual Meeting. NIDCD has noted that small businesses are well suited to address many of the research needs, and the SBIR (R43/R44) and STTR (R41/R42) grant programs represent a unique opportunity to provide assistance to these groups. These two FOAs, targeted to small business, are to support the translation of technologies, new or existing, that can have a significant impact on healthcare access and health outcomes for individuals with hearing loss, including health disparity populations. A requisite component of the research plan is a description of the healthcare requirements and needs of the population and the existing barriers to adequate healthcare delivery.

Dr. Roger Miller is the NIDCD coordinator for the small business program, including these two requests for applications, and his email is millerr@nidcd.nih.gov for further information. These initiatives have three receipt dates: March 18, 2011;November 18, 2011;and July 18, 2012.