The Audiologist in the Next Generation of Inner-Ear Therapies: From Devices to Drugs.

Precision medicine focuses on the P4 framework--predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory. Advances in hearing-health strategies, including inner-ear therapeutics, are increasing the precision of hearing-health care and will have a broad impact on the profession of audiology. These advances inform research, clinical practice, and education. Research into advanced therapeutic approaches has identified the need for more precise diagnostic and outcomes measurements to identify appropriate candidates for precision treatments and to evaluate targeted therapeutic approaches. The need for greater precision in diagnostic and outcomes measurements for clinical trials will also lead to more precise tools being introduced into clinical practice. Further, more precise diagnosis of hearing loss, including geno-typing and deep phenotyping, will allow for more personalized treatment approaches. Audiologists are involved in clinical trials and are also integral in the adoption of new treatments into general clinical practice, ensuring access to advanced treatments for all populations. The role of the audiologist in clinical trials and adoption of new protocols and procedures to support and implement advanced diagnostic and treatment options was discussed in the context of current themes in medicine, including precision/ P4 medicine, implementation science, and development of core outcome sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]