Better Hearing through Research:  The American Hearing Research Foundation believes that therapies to restore hearing in the future will rely on scientific discoveries identifying promising targets in the inner ear for therapeutic intervention. Gene therapy, drugs, and biochemical techniques are the main avenues of exploration today.  The AHRF provides more than $125,000 in reserach grants to scientists at top universities throughout the United States studying hearing loss each year. The relatively small size of our grants -$20,000 for one year- is intended to allow beginning investigators the opportunity to explore new ideas, and generate results they can use to apply for larger grants in the future. In this way, the AHRF fills a unique need in the research community for early investogator grants. AHRF-funded research has focused on cell biology, genetics, molecular biology, stem cell research, auditory processing, cochlear implants and hearing loss prevention.