Objective: Non-syndromic sensorineural hearing impairment is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion in 75-85% of cases. To date, 61 genes with this type of inheritance have been identified as related to hearing impairment, and the genetic heterogeneity is accompanied by a large variety of clinical characteristics. Adequate counselling on a patient's hearing prognosis and rehabilitation is part of the diagnosis on the genetic cause of hearing impairment and, in addition, is important for the psychological well-being of the patient.
Type of review: Traditional literature review.
Data source: All articles describing clinical characteristics of the audiovestibular phenotypes of identified genes and related loci have been reviewed.
Conclusion: This review aims to serve as a summary and a reference for counselling purposes when a causative gene has been identified in a patient with a non-syndromic autosomal recessively inherited sensorineural hearing impairment.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.