Hearing Institute: creation and international inauguration meeting

• Creation of the Hearing Institute

Following the favorable opinion issued by the Board of Directors on April 19, 2019, the Hearing Institute was set up on June 1, 2019, for an initial period of five years, renewable by a decision of the Board of Directors.
The Center has been directed by Professor Christine Petit since it opened on June 1, 2019. For administrative and operational purposes it reports to senior management, and for scientific matters it reports to the Department of Neuroscience.

Read the decision memo

• Save the date: international inauguration meeting in September

The Hearing Institute, created on the initiative of the Fondation Pour l'Audition and the Institut Pasteur, is an interdisciplinary fundamental and medical research center with the objective of promoting integrative approaches to auditory neuroscience and developing innovative diagnostic tools and curative treatments for hearing disabilities.

This delocalized Institut Pasteur center works with Inserm and in conjunction with the Paris Public Hospital Network. It is a pioneering, forward-looking project that will bring together not only scientists and doctors but also drivers of innovation, industry stakeholders, associations and patients, who will join forces to strengthen France's expertise in the field of hearing.

A total of 120 to 140 people, including nine research teams, will work for the Hearing Institute at a new state-of-the-art facility in central Paris, near the Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital.
The Fondation Pour l'Audition, one of the project initiators, was created by Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, Jean-Pierre Meyers and the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller. It has partnered with the Institut Pasteur with the aim of giving new impetus to research in the field of hearing by setting up a dedicated research institute. For many years now, several teams of scientists at the Institut Pasteur have been conducting research on hearing that has achieved international recognition.

There are thought to be nearly 500 million people with hearing loss worldwide, including 6 million in France. WHO estimates that by 2050, the number of people with disabling hearing loss will have reached 900 million. Given this significant increase – a consequence of rising life expectancy and environmental changes linked to factors including urbanization –, hearing is now a major social and public health issue.

The contracting authority for the new facility built to house the Hearing Institute is the RiVP (Régie Immobilière de la Ville de Paris). The City of Paris is a partner in the project, particularly with regard to the acquisition and construction of the building. Stewart Cole presented the Hearing Institute at an event organized by the City of Paris on June 19 in the Salle des Fêtes at Paris City Hall, attended by Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo: "Paris, European Capital of Innovation in Health: A Decade of Concerted Action to Boost the Attractiveness of the French Capital".

To mark the opening of the Hearing Institute among the specialist scientific community, an international inauguration meeting will be held on September 16 and 17 at the Collège de France. A communication about this event will be released at a later date.