Robert D. Frisina, Ph.D.

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Hearing and Deafness Research: Beyond Hearing Aids

The Hearing and Deafness Research Group of the Otolaryngology Department at the University of Rochester Medical Center is at a critical juncture in responding to the needs of the deaf and aging population. Since 1991, the Department has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, as well as private benefactors, to conduct leading research in deafness and age-related hearing loss. With significant finds in basic science as a result of these breakthrough investigations, faculty members and their collaborators are at the threshold of substantive advances in the translation of new understandings that can be applied to the prevention and treatment of hearing loss and deafness. Investment in progressive translational and clinical research will have a lasting impact on the field of Otolaryngology.

"Hearing loss and deafness are physical deficits that go beyond lifestyle limitations," said Robert Frisina, Jr., Ph.D., Associate Chairman for Research. "The inability to hear imposes serious threats to a person's economic, social, and psychological well-being. Coupled with an aging population, the importance of research on age-related hearing loss becomes even more critical in the U.S. as we struggle to relieve our already over-burdened healthcare system."

Today, there are still no biomedical treatments for permanent hearing loss.

The strategy of the Hearing and Deafness Research Group of the Otolaryngology Department is to combine the knowledge and practices of multiple scientific disciplines to attack the highly prevalent and complex medical problems of deafness and presbycusis, age-related hearing loss. These scientific disciplines include Audiology, Psychoacoustics, Experimental Psychology, Neuro- physiology, Neuroanatomy, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Gene Therapy. To advance and accelerate the translation of basic research in hearing loss and deafness to effective therapies, collaborations with other related disciplines are actively pursued.

Exciting Results...to Date

Dr. Frisina's research fundamentally addresses the key ear-brain relations necessary to advance the science that underlies deafness and age-related hearing loss and thereby bring us closer to clinical application. Among the team's findings to date are key understandings of the changes that take place in the ear and brain:

- For the feedback system from the brain to the ear, decline begins in middle age;

- Sensory cells are lost in all cases of permanent hearing loss;

- Some medical conditions, such as Type 2 diabetes accelerate hearing loss;

- Progestin (HRT) use increases hearing loss in post-menopausal women;

- Difficulty hearing speech in background noise begins at middle age.

Dr. Frisina was born in Chicago, but has spent most of his career in Upstate New York. He attended McQuaid High School here in Brighton, where he was captain of the hockey team. He then attended Hamilton College, near Utica, majoring in Experimental Psychology and Economics. He earned his Ph.D. from the College of Engineering of Syracuse University, specializing in Neuroscience, Bioengineering and Physiology. He completed post-doctoral research studies in Sensory Physiology and Biophysics, at the Center for Brain Research, University of Rochester. In 1985, Dr. Frisina joined the Medical School Faculty, and became Director of Research in Otolaryngology in 1988, a position he continues to hold today.

Current Appointments

• Professor - Department of Otolaryngology (SMD)
• Professor - Department of Biomedical Engineering (SMD)
• Professor - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy (SMD)

Education
PhD Neuroscience, Bioengineering	Syracuse University	1983
BA Experimental Psychology, Economics	Hamilton College	1977

Fellowship Awards
NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at the Center for Brain Research, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry	1983 - 1985
Honorary Syracuse University Graduate Fellow	1978 - 1981
National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow in Physiology	1978 - 1981
Syracuse University Graduate Fellowship	1978 - 1979

Awards and Honors
Fellow | Acoustical Society of America	1994 - Present
Scientific Fellow | American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery	1990 - Present
Intellectual Property Productivity Award | Technology Licensing Office, RIT	2007
Silver Certificate | Acoustical Society of America	2004
Distinguished Researcher in Biological Sciences | Rochester Institue of Technology	2003 - 2007
FIRST Award in Communicative and Neurosensory Disorders | National Institutes of Health	1988 - 1994
Graduate Scholar | Syracuse University	1977 - 1978
Root Fellow | Hamilton College	1977 - 1978
Summa Cum Laude B.A. Degree | Hamilton College	1977
Marder Prize | Hamilton College	1977
Certificate of Appreciation | Utica Volunteer Agency	1977
Bennet Scholar | Hamilton College	1976 - 1977
Nomination: Rhodes Scholarship and Marshall Scholarship | Faculty Committee, Hamilton College	1976
Dean's List-High Honor | Hamilton College	1974 - 1977
Gilbert Prize | Hamilton College	1974
Bronze Citizenship Medal | Sons of the American Revolution	1973