About Us

Stanford Ear Institute

Philosophy

The SEI hearing health concept emphasizes integrated, multidisciplinary care incorporating a continuum of audiological testing, medical diagnosis and treatment, and rehabilitation.

SEI's team of Stanford faculty ear physicians, audiologists, and therapists work together to provide high quality, integrated, and convenient diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation services. We offer a full array of sophisticated microsurgery of the ear and the latest in high-tech hearing devices, including cochlear implants.

What are the SEI Missions?

To provide the highest possible quality of care to our patients
To provide the finest possible educational experience for our trainees including medical students, residents, fellows, and physicians in practice
To sustain a culture which fosters imagination, creativity, innovation, and discovery
To engage in high impact basic and translational research seeking improved understanding of causes of ear disease, more efficient diagnosis, and introduction of novel therapies
To invent new technological applications designed to optimize therapy of challenging clinical problems as well as to overcome disabilities brought on by illness
To collaborate widely with Stanford bioscience and engineering and worldwide across industry and academia to join our quest to overcome ear diseases

Why was the Stanford Ear Institute created?

We created the Stanford Ear Institute because we believe that the optimal way to help people with hearing loss and balance disorders is through a high degree of specialized expertise, multidisciplinary collaboration, and use of the latest technology. Stanford has long been renowned as a center for care of complex ear disease such as congenital deformities, profound deafness, ear tumors, and serious infections. With the opening of the Stanford Ear Institute we are broadening our scope to provide care for the full spectrum of ear disease from children with stubborn ear infections to seniors with aging related hearing loss. In June, we moved all aspects of our hearing health care team into a handsome new facility which was thoughtfully designed to optimize each patient’s experience. The design enables a person to have hearing testing, medical care, auditory training, and fitting of high tech devices in a single integrated location - often during the same visit.

Our 7 physicians limit their practice to the diagnosis and management of ear diseases, from the simple to the most complex, and offer both medical therapy and advanced microsurgical techniques. Our team of 16 doctoral level audiologists provide both sophisticated hearing testing as well as the latest technology hearing aid and other listening assistive devices. The Children’s Hearing Center provides family-oriented, comprehensive medical services for the entire range of hearing conditions in newborns, infants and children. Stanford’s renowned cochlear implant program restores hearing to children and adults with profound hearing loss. Patients with vertigo and equilibrium are cared for in our multidisciplinary Balance Center which includes advanced balance diagnostics and rehabilitation by specialized physical therapists.

As part of Stanford University, we are naturally focused upon innovation and discovery. Thirty-six million Americans have hearing loss including half of all seniors over the age of 70. While problems of the eardrum and hearing bones are mostly repairable today via microsurgery, the great majority of people with hearing loss have damage to the sound sensing cells (hair cells) in the inner ear (cochlea). Our team of over 80 scientists are focused on overcoming this most prevalent type of hearing loss through regenerating lost hair cells as part of the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss. We also conduct clinical research into improving cochlear implants, such as our BabyTalk telemedicine program, and studies whose goal is optimization of care for tumors of the ear and related structures. Our overarching purpose is to translate discoveries emanating from our research laboratories into novel therapies for our patients.

Health Care

The SEI provides care for children and adults with all kinds of ear problems including hearing loss, tinnitus, and vertigo/balance problems. Surgical ear diseases such as benign and malignant tumors (eg. acoustic neuroma, glomus jugulare, ear cancer), ear infections (chronic otitis media, cholesteatoma), injuries (eg. tympanic membrane perforation), congenital disorders (eg aural atresia), facial nerve disorders, and implantable auditory devices are a special focus.

The goal of the Stanford Ear institute (SEI) is to provide world-class care for people with diseases of the ear and related structures. We provide specialized, multidisciplinary care for a wide variety or ear problems including hearing loss, ear infections, ear tumors, and balance disorders.

Our care team of Stanford faculty ear physicians, audiologists, and therapists work together to provide high quality, integrated, and convenient diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation services. We offer the full array of sophisticated microsurgery of the ear and the latest of high tech hearing devices including cochlear implants.

The SEI Children’s Hearing Center provides family oriented, comprehensive medical services for the entire spectrum of hearing conditions in newborns, infants and children. Pediatric audiologists screen all newborns at Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and connect with schools and caregiving remotely through telemedicine systems.

Research

The primary focus of our research is regeneration of hair cells, the sound sensing cells of the inner ear that, if lost, are responsible for the majority of hearing losses.

SEI has a large research enterprise of some 100 basic scientists, engineers, and technicians. The engagement of our group of clinician–scientists reflects our philosophy that advances in clinical medicine are most likely to occur when scientists and clinicians work together towards a common purpose.

The Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss (SICHL) is our multidisciplinary, integrated research theme seeking to invent biological cures for inner ear hearing loss.

Expertise includes stem cell biology, auditory physiology, genetics, embryological development, microendoscopy, mathematical modeling of ear function, middle ear mechanics, and development of electronic devices.

Education

The SEI has extensive educational programs. Stanford medical students and otolaryngology residents rotate through the SEI. Neurotology-Skull Base Surgery fellows spend 2-3 years acquiring advanced skills. Many SEI fellowship alumni have become prominent scholars and academic leaders in the field.

Every year the SEI hosts numerous visiting physicians from around the world. Our biannual continuing medical education course, the Stanford Otology Course, draws some 200 otologists to the 3-day curriculum.

Teaching facilities include the 12-station Perkins Microsurgery Teaching Laboratory and our Temporal Bone Simulation Center which offers virtual microsurgical training.