USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology

Research

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About Our Research Programs

Research is central to our mission because we are not just here to provide the standard-of-care; we are here to advance it. We are proud to be at USC as it is focused on improving the lives of patients, furthering science, and training the next generation of leaders. These are the reasons our faculty decided to come to USC and work at a major university. Every faculty member recognizes the importance of research to our ability to help our patients. Our research generates high-impact discoveries and moving success stories.

Dr. Ksenia Gnedeva working at her lab.

Leading Research

Ranked #11 in NIH research funding, our department has basic, translational and clinical research arms. The strength of our research is in deafness and communicative disorders. Most of the basic science is focused on inner ear biology and physiology, and we have several major labs working on efforts to cure hearing loss. Our translational research involves the development of better hearing aid and cochlear implant sound processing strategies, as well as novel approaches to performing diagnostic hearing tests. Cochlear implant and auditory brainstem implant outcomes form the majority of our NIH-funded clinical research. However, we are also active collaborators with the Cancer Center in clinical trials for head and neck cancer. Finally, we also have clinical research in sleep, voice, swallowing, cancer, rhinology, and airway.

Graphic showing the departments #11 ranking in NIH funding.

Clinical Research

Our clinical research goes hand-in-hand with our academic mission to train the next generation of leaders in international specialty medicine. Our research is designed to go from bench to bedside, so trainees experience a large volume case load with a spectrum of pathologies that can inform their research. Trainees have access to the latest technologies, particularly with respect to imaging, robotic surgery and diagnostic capabilities.

Our Programs

  • Of babies born in the United States, 2 to 3 of every 1,000 have a detectable hearing loss in at least one ear and 1 out of 500 newborns suffers from significant hearing impairment. Congenital hearing loss (hearing loss present at birth) can include hereditary hearing loss or hearing loss due to other factors present either in the womb during pregnancy or at the time of birth.

     

    When a child is born, their inner ear or cochlea is sensitive to sound but may require some postnatal refinement.  Also, the brain has to learn how to perceive sound and speech from the information coming up the auditory pathway. Children can be born with pathology to the outer or middle ear, sensory hair cells, hearing organ (Organ of Corti within the cochlea), or they can be born without auditory nerves which carry the hearing information to the brain. Without intervention, hearing loss can affect a child’s ability to develop speech, language, and social skills as well as achieve academic success. The earlier children with hearing loss receive intervention, the more likely they are to reach their full potential. Otologists and audiologists work together to recommend and implement hearing aids, cochlear implants, auditory brain stem implants, and various types of rehabilitative therapy.

     

    Recently, a team of multidisciplinary researchers led a breakthrough (NIH)-funded clinical trial that attempts to show that young children born without a hearing nerve can safely undergo an auditory brainstem implant (ABI) surgery. The study also allowed our researchers to study how the brain develops over time and how it learns to hear sound and develop speech. A separate NIH-funded study examines the effects of cochlear implantation on language, behavioral, and societal outcomes in children.  Other efforts are using otoacoustic emissions (echoes and distortion tones from the ear) to understand how the newborn cochlea functions and to develop new and advanced diagnostic tests.

     

    Faculty Researchers:
    Carolina Abdala, PhD
    Raymond Goldsworthy, PhD
    Laurie Eisenberg, PhD

  • Hearing loss is the third most common health problem in the United States and affects all ages including newborn babies to elderly adults. About 48 million Americans (1 out of 8 people) have lost some hearing. Of babies born in the U.S., 2 to 3 of every 1,000 have a detectable hearing loss in at least one ear and 1 out of 500 newborns suffers from significant hearing impairment. 1 out of 3 adults aged 65-74 have disabling hearing loss, and that number increases to 1 out of 2 adults over the age of 75.

    Causes of hearing loss can include aging, ototoxic drugs, noise exposure, head trauma, infection, and genetic conditions and predispositions. Once mechanosensory hair cells in the human inner ear are damaged and lost by any of a variety of reasons,  they never regenerate. Hence, a majority of sensorineural hearing loss is permanent and significantly affects the patient’s quality of life. Research indicates that people with hearing loss can have higher rates of depression, social isolation and cognitive decline.

     

    Researchers and clinicians in the Caruso Department are leading a unique interdisciplinary effort which uses the latest technology in hearing science, genetics, stem cell medicine, neuroscience, neuroimaging, and biomedical engineering to conduct hearing and otological research. Our Aim is to diagnose and restore hearing through a variety of methods including hearing aids, cochlear implantation, auditory brain stem implants, bone conductive hearing devices, and to explore the future of restoring hair cell function through regeneration therapies. Building on recent stem cell research, our department is working on the possibility of regenerating hair cells in humans. By determining the mechanisms of cell regulation, scientists hope to develop a biological, curative approach that will trigger natural replacement of those hair cells in order to initiate significant improvements in hearing.

     

    Faculty Researchers:
    Carolina Abdala, PhD
    Karolina Charaziak, PhD
    John Parsons, AuD
    Christopher Shera, PhD

  • In the instance of serious conditions such as facial paralysis or disfigurement, reconstructive surgery helps patients overcome physical limitations that drastically impact quality of life. Our team places great emphasis on research in order to design new approaches for treatment, especially when it comes to facial nerve and paralysis. They working to harness the power of induced stem cells to create nerve grafts generated from a patient’s skin. This opens the door to stem cell therapy and tissue engineering that does not rely on fetal or bone marrow tissue.

    Faculty Researchers:
    Alexander Markarian, MD

  • Research at Keck Medicine of USC in the field of laryngology is focused on clinical outcomes studies and clinical trials to improve voice, swallowing and airway for people who have experienced loss of these crucial functions due to conditions affecting the larynx (voice box) and throat.

    Leveraging their unique interprofessional approach and clinical excellence, faculty in the division of laryngology/USC Voice Center are uniquely positioned to advance knowledge and treatment of voice, swallowing and airway disorders. Active research is underway to restore voice loss associated with aging, vocal fold paralysis, vocal fold paresis, scar and dystonia using novel behavioral, medical and procedural interventions.

    Clinical trials are underway to investigate novel office-based minimally invasive laryngeal injectable therapeutics, including intralesional injection of corticosteroids for subglottic and tracheal stenosis, platelet-rich plasma injections to rejuvenate vocal fold tissue loss in scar and aging, and novel bio-compatible materials to restore voice in vocal fold paralysis and paresis. Novel voice therapy techniques are being developed, studied, and applied by the team of scholarly speech-language pathologists in the division.

    Faculty in the Division of Laryngology and the USC Voice Center are actively engaged in and lead multi institutional research and are members of the North American Airway Collaborative, the Vocal Cord Paralysis Experience (COPE) study, and multi institutional research in treatment outcomes for patients with Zenker’s diverticula

    Faculty Researchers:
    Michael Johns, III, MD
    Karla O’Dell. MD
    Elizabeth Shuman, MD

  • Chronic rhinosinusitis is an inflammatory disorder of the paranasal sinuses and the lining of the nasal passages, affecting about 10% of the US population. Treatment of chronic sinusitis, as well as tumors of the nasal cavity and sinuses, involve complex surgeries close to both the brain and the eye. The surgeries require cutting edge endoscopic technology as well as novel technologies, such as new surgical dressings, to improve outcomes.

    With a number of both clinical and scientific research studies currently underway, the physicians in the Caruso Department are working towards making the surgeries safer and ensuring that new technologies are efficient and cost effective. Along with the Neurosurgery Department, the Division has pioneered and researched a model to train surgeons for intra-operative complications. This type of simulation technology has been proven to increase physician response times and surgical skills during rare emergencies. The Division has also researched the effectiveness of new technology, such as balloon catheter dilation, and the way the utilization of new technology affects the health system. The Division is also actively engaged in studies to better monitor the quality of life outcomes of both medical and surgical interventions, especially for some of the most vulnerable patient populations such as the homeless and children with cystic fibrosis.

    Faculty Researcher:
    Kevin Hur, MD

  • The surgical evaluation and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea and snoring is a relatively new subspecialty, and our research at Keck Medicine of USC has contributed to many important scientific advances in this field.

    Drug-induced sleep endoscopy is an evaluation for sleep apnea patients considering surgery.  We have conducted many studies in this area, including leading two international, multicenter studies showing how drug-induced sleep endoscopy can help select procedures and improve results with tailored, effective treatment plans.

    We participate in major studies examining the benefits of innovative treatments like Inspire Medical’s Upper Airway Stimulation®.
    Collaborations with experts in magnetic resonance imaging and biomedical engineering here at USC is enabling examination of neurologic changes that occur in obstructive sleep apnea and the improvements that can occur with treatment.  Additional work with colleagues at other institutions will shed new light on the causes of sleep apnea and the potential combination of surgery and medications to improve outcomes.

    Faculty Researcher:
    Sebastian Jara, MD, MPH

Basic Science Research

Using the latest technology in genetics, stem cell medicine, neuroscience and biomedical engineering, researchers find advanced solutions for disorders of the head and neck.

View our Labs
USC OHNS research faculty James Dewey.