The 29th International Evoked Response Audiometry StudyGroup (IERASG)

Project Summary We request in this proposal partial support to cover the expenses of the 29th meeting of the International Evoked Response Audiometry Study Group (IERASG) 2025 conference, which will be held June 14-18, 2025, at the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus. Consistent with the goals of the first IERASG meeting in 1970, this biennial meeting aims to bring together experts in evoked auditory response research and clinical assessment of infants through adults with hearing loss or other hearing disorders such as auditory processing disorder, tinnitus and hyperacusis. Invited are scientists and trainees who design equipment, protocols, as well as the development of clinical protocols that utilize evoked auditory responses for clinical populations including, but not limited to, hearing loss, brain injury, attention deficits, and autism among individuals across the lifespan. The reason this is called a ‘study group’ is because the primary focus is to foster a healthy environment to mentor new researchers. Hence, students, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents are welcomed and encouraged to interact with the experts. This meeting builds on the prior IERASG meeting held in Cologne, Germany, in 2023, with ~200 participants from over 29 countries. A goal of the 2025 meeting will be to continue to facilitate the free exchange of ideas between students and basic and clinical scientists and to provide a framework for novel collaborative efforts to advance our clinical and scientific understanding of neural processes from the cochlea to the auditory cortex, function, dysfunction, and repair. The theme of the 2025 IERASG meeting will be Forging Frontiers in Evoked Response Potentials, highlighting our focus on the intersection between researchers and clinicians. An essential goal of this meeting will be to increase the diversity of attendees and presenters. In particular, we intend to target trainees, clinicians, and clinician-scientists by hosting multiple workshops the day immediately before the formal IERASG 2025 meeting. The meeting will be held on the University of Colorado Boulder campus, chosen because of its convenient location, allowing easy travel, idyllic campus and surroundings, and very reasonable costs with on-campus housing and dining options adjacent to the conference venue available for attendees. This conference supports the mission of NIDCD by providing an interactive platform to share research, train students and junior researchers and foster collaboration between clinicians, researchers, and engineers.