Hereditary Deafness in Man

Abstract

HEREDITARY hearing loss appears in many forms. It can be transmitted dominantly as Waardenburg's disease, recessively as Pendred's disease or sex-linked as the congenital sex-linked deafness of Parker. It may be either conductive, as in Treacher–Collins disease, or neural, as in recessive congenital deafness. The time of onset may be congenital, as in Waardenburg's disease, in the teens, as in Alport's disease, or in adult life, as otosclerosis. The frequencies affected can be determined genetically and may take the form of a dominant low-frequency hearing loss,¹ a mid-frequency hearing loss² or a high-frequency hearing loss.³ The simplest organization of types . . .