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Hearing Restoration

NEWS RELEASE

Released: January 31, 2024

Department of Defense
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)
Hearing Restoration Research Program
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24)

The FY24 Defense Appropriations Bill has not been signed into law. Although FY24 funds have not been appropriated for the Hearing Restoration Research Program (HRRP), the HRRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY24 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government.

The FY24 Defense Appropriations Act is anticipated to provide funding for the Hearing Restoration Research Program to support impactful research to reduce the burden of hearing loss on Service Members, Veterans, and the American public. The managing agent for the anticipated funding opportunity is the CDMRP at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The HRRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY24 funding opportunity. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government. The FY24 HRRP funding opportunity announcement for the following award mechanism will be posted on the Grants.gov website. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the announcement is released.

Applications submitted to the FY24 HRRP must address one or more of the following Focus Areas:

  • Improvement and acceleration of the translation of biological regeneration/repair mechanisms into clinical applications. Research addressing the damage, repair, and regeneration of the auditory system after military-relevant injuries is strongly encouraged.
  • Development of diagnostic tests that differentiate sensory, neural, synaptic, and central processing disorders, that may inform applicability and outcomes for current or future hearing restoration therapeutics.
  • Development of reliable in-vitro human models to facilitate the understanding, derivation, and characterization of human auditory cells, and/or to facilitate the evaluation of hearing restoration therapies.

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Focused Research Award Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent)
  • Submission of a Letter of Intent (LOI) is required prior to full application submission.
    • LOIs are used for program planning purposes only (e.g., reviewer recruitment) and will not be reviewed during either the peer or programmatic review sessions.
    • An invitation to submit a full application is not required.
  • Funding Level 1 supports exploratory, high-risk/high-reward research in the earliest stages of development.
    • Research must have the potential to yield new avenues of investigation, such as new approaches, new research tools, or new paradigms.
    • While preliminary data are not required, applications must provide solid rationale of the research idea, and the investigating team must have sufficient expertise to test the idea.
  • Funding Level 2 supports the advancement of more mature research toward clinical translation.
    • Applications may focus on any phase of research from basic through translational.
    • Preliminary data supporting the readiness and feasibility of the proposed research are required.
  • Funding Level 3 supports translational research with a pilot clinical trial (PCT) component.
    • The PCT is a tool to collect preliminary data to inform the feasibility, rationale, and design of subsequent clinical trials.
    • The application must have both a non-PCT translational component and a PCT component to be eligible for Funding Level 3. The PCT must be clearly linked to the non-PCT translational studies that will be performed under the same application.
    • Preliminary data supporting the readiness and feasibility of the proposed research are required.
  • The Principal Investigator is responsible for selecting the funding level most appropriate for the research proposed. The funding level should be selected based on the scope of the research project, rather than the amount of the budget.
  • Tinnitus or vestibular-related research is excluded.
 Funding Level 1:
  • Maximum funding of $250,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 2 years
Funding Level 2:
  • Maximum funding of $750,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
Funding Level 3:
  • Maximum funding of $1,000,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final funding opportunity announcements that will be available for downloading from the Grants.gov website. The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420.

Submission deadlines are not available until the funding opportunity announcements are released. For email notification when announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage. For more information about the HRRP or other CPMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.health.mil).


Point of Contact:

CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-9783
usarmy.detrick.medcom-cdmrp.mbx.cdmrp-public-affairs@health.mil


Last updated Thursday, February 8, 2024