Limited Competition for the Conservation of Hearing Study (CHEARS) (U01) | PAR 15 355

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 15 355

The Limited Competition for the Conservation of Hearing Study (CHEARS) (U01) is a National Institutes of Health funding opportunity from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) to renew an existing, ongoing cooperative agreement that NIDCD already supports. It is not an open, broad competition; it is a continuation-focused opportunity meant to keep a specific long-running research effort moving forward rather than start a brand-new study from scratch. The overall purpose is to deepen and extend what CHEARS has already been doing: tracking hearing health over time and identifying risk factors for hearing loss that may be preventable.

Scientifically, the renewed CHEARS award is designed to continue studying preventable contributors to hearing loss using two exceptionally large, well-established longitudinal cohorts: the Nurses' Health Study I and the Nurses' Health Study II. Because these cohorts have followed participants for many years and contain extensive health and lifestyle data, they offer a strong foundation for examining how exposures and behaviors relate to later hearing outcomes. The renewal emphasizes continued assessment through established data-collection tools, specifically using the questionnaires created for the Hearing Supplemental Study. In practical terms, this means the project is expected to keep gathering standardized self-reported information on potential hearing-related exposures and outcomes in a way that is consistent with prior CHEARS work, preserving comparability over time.

A key added element in this continuation is follow-up audiological testing. The opportunity describes repeat audiological examinations conducted at follow-up visits three years after the baseline hearing exams. These repeat tests are intended to measure incident hearing loss, meaning new cases of hearing loss that develop between the initial exam and the follow-up period. The follow-up audiology is targeted to a defined subsample of about 3,700 eligible nurses who, at baseline, had no hearing loss or only minimal hearing loss. Focusing on this group supports a clearer look at new onset and early progression, which is especially relevant when the goal is to connect modifiable or preventable risk factors with subsequent change in hearing status.

From a funding and administrative standpoint, this opportunity uses the U01 mechanism, which is a cooperative agreement. That mechanism typically signals that NIH staff will have substantial programmatic involvement during the conduct of the research compared with a standard research project grant. The opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding, within the health activity category, and it falls under CFDA number 93.173. The listed award ceiling is $500,000. The expected number of awards is not specified in the provided source data. The original closing date for applications was 2015-12-03, and the opportunity was created on 2015-09-24 under funding opportunity number PAR-15-355.

Eligibility is intentionally narrow. Only applicant institutions that are already participating in the existing NIDCD-funded CHEARS cooperative agreement are eligible to apply, reinforcing that this is a limited competition aimed at renewal rather than expansion to new institutions. Eligible applicant types include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education, but that eligibility still sits inside the requirement that the institution must be part of the current CHEARS award. Foreign participation is explicitly restricted: non-U.S. entities (foreign institutions) are not eligible, non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement are not allowed.

In short, this grant opportunity funds the continuation of a major hearing conservation research effort embedded within the Nurses' Health Studies cohorts, continuing validated questionnaire-based surveillance while adding repeat audiology after three years for a large subsample to capture new hearing loss. The structure and eligibility rules make clear that the main goal is to sustain and extend an established, NIH-involved collaboration to improve understanding of preventable risks for hearing loss over time.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Limited Competition for the Conservation of Hearing Study (CHEARS) (U01)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.173.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2015-09-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2015-12-03. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for PAR 15 355

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: