FAQ

FreQuently Asked Questions

What is Hough Ear Institute?

Hough Ear Institute is a non-profit 501(c)(3) medical research organization working on therapeutics to restore hearing, educate our community on the importance of hearing health, and provide much-needed resources to build specialized ear clinics in areas where none are accessible.

Are you a clinic? Do you see patients?

No. Hough Ear Institute is a non-profit medical research institute that does not see patients. There are, however, two clinics that operate in our building staffed with some of the best otologists and audiologists in the region: SSM Health Otology and Audio Recovery, Inc.

I need to schedule, reschedule, or change my appointment, speak to a nurse, get my patient records, etc. Who do I contact?

As previously mentioned, we are not a clinic and do not handle patient information. You need to contact SSM Health Otology and/or Audio Recovery, Inc. for any and all hearing healthcare related issues.

What are your therapeutics and how do they work?

For a complete rundown of all our technologies, click here. You can navigate to this link by clicking the “What We Do” tab at the top of our homepage.

Are your therapeutics in clinical trials?

Neither of our therapeutics are currently in clinical trials. The best way to stay informed about when and where those clinical trials will take place is by signing up for our newsletter.

Can I sign up to be part of clinical trials?

We do not maintain a database of possible patients for clinical trials. To sign up to be part of any clinical trial, you must visit clinicaltrials.gov, find the study in which you wish to participate, and apply there. We will announce the name of the study testing our therapeutics and where it is taking place in our newsletter, but beyond that, HEI has no involvement with clinical trials due to conflicts of interest.

Why is it taking so long to get these medicines to the market?

Medical research of innovative, first-in-class technologies is filled with a lot of uncertainty and red tape which can slow down even the most promising medicines. HEI is responsible for the preclinical research and development of our technologies and when they are ready for clinical development, they are passed on to pharmaceutical and/or commercialization partners with expertise in getting through clinical trials. We have no control over the timeline once we license our therapeutics to those partners.

Do your medicines really work?

All our preclinical research indicates both NHPN-1010 and AOK-1 are extremely promising, but we can’t be sure they work until we test them in human clinical trials.

My question was not answered here. How do I contact you?

Fill out the contact form by clicking here or navigating to the Contact Us page of our website.

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