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DEPARTMENT OF WAR - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
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  5. 2026 Hearing Restoration Research Program

Hearing Restoration

NEWS RELEASE

Released: February 20, 2026

Defense Health Agency Research and Development
Medical Research and Development Command
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
Hearing Restoration Research Program
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2026

The FY26 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding for the HRRP to support innovative, high-impact research with clinical relevance that will reduce the burden of hearing loss on Service Members, Veterans and the general public. As part of the DHA R&D-MRDC, the CDMRP is the program office managing these anticipated FY26 funding opportunities.

The HRRP provides the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY26 funding opportunities. Investigators should not construe this pre-announcement as an obligation or promise by the government. The CDMRP will post FY26 HRRP funding opportunity announcements on the Grants.gov website. Once released, the funding opportunity announcements will include pre-application and application deadlines.

Applications submitted to the FY26 HRRP must address one or more of the following focus areas:

  • Improve and accelerate the translation of biological regeneration or repair mechanisms into clinical applications. The HRRP strongly encourages research addressing the damage, repair and regeneration of the auditory system after military-relevant injuries.
  • Develop diagnostic tests that differentiate sensory, neural, synaptic and central processing disorders that may inform applicability and outcomes for current or future hearing restoration therapeutics.
  • Develop 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 affiliated with an eligible organization
  • The HRRP requires submission of a letter of intent prior to full application submission.
  • Funding Level 1 supports exploratory, high-risk and high-reward research in the earliest stages of development.
    • Research must have the potential to yield new avenues of investigation, such as new approaches, research tools or paradigms.
    • Application does not require preliminary data but must provide solid rationale of the research idea and demonstrate sufficient expertise on the investigating team.
  • Funding Level 2 supports the advancement of research toward clinical translation.
    • Applications may address any phase of research from basic through translational.
    • Applications must include preliminary data.
    • New for FY26: Partnering Principal Investigator Option: Supports meaningful and productive partnerships between two investigators, termed the initiating PI and partnering PI, collaborating on a single application.
 Funding Level 1
  • Maximum period of performance is 2 years
  • Maximum allowable funding is $400,000 for total costs*
Funding Level 2
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
  • Maximum allowable funding is $1.2 million for total costs*
*Total costs include direct and indirect costs.

Before full application submission, the CDMRP requires submission of a pre-application through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal, eBRAP, prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final funding opportunity announcements available for downloading from Grants.gov. To obtain a listing of all CDMRP funding opportunities on the Grants.gov website, perform a basic search using CFDA number 12.420.

To receive email notifications upon release of funding opportunity announcements, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under "Email Subscriptions" on the eBRAP homepage. For more information about the HRRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website.

Point of Contact:
CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-7071
dha.detrick.cdmrp.mbx.public-affairs@health.mil


Last updated Friday, February 20, 2026