Secrets of hereditary deafness revealed

Around half of deafness is thought to be inherited and experts are pinpointing the genes involved one by one.

So far, about one third of 60 genes have been discovered and experts in the Netherlands announced today they have found one more. It means treatments related to inherited deafness are one step closer.

Knowledge about the gene could be incorporated into standard genetic testing, meaning experts will be able to tell families with hereditary deafness their likelihood of having a child who is deaf.

Every year in the UK, 840 babies are born with significant deafness and one in 1,000 children are deaf at the age of three.

There are 20,000 children up to the age of 15 who are moderately to profoundly deaf.

The latest research was funded by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People and is published in the latest edition of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Scientists looked at the genetics of families where several members were deaf and identified the PTPRQ gene as playing a role.

In the last few months, the same team has discovered two other genes linked to inherited deafness.