FY 2010 Budget

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

On this page:

• Organization Chart
• Appropriation Language
• Amounts Available for Obligation
• Budget Mechanism—Total
• Budget Authority by Program
• Major Changes in the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Request
• Summary of Changes
• Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Graphs
• Director's Overview
• Justification of Budget Request
• Budget Authority by Object
• Salaries and Expenses
• Authorizing Legislation
• Appropriations History
• Details of Full-Time Equivalent Employment (FTE)
• Details of Positions

Organization Chart

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Appropriation Language

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

For carrying out section 301 and title IV of the Public Health Services Act with respect to deafness and other communication disorders $407,259,000 $413,026,000 (Department of Health and Human Services Appropriation Act, 2009)

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Major Changes in the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Request

Major changes by budget mechanism and/or budget activity detail are briefly described below. Note that there may be overlap between budget mechanism and activity detail and these highlights will not sum to the total change for the FY 2010 budget request for NIDCD, which is $5.767 million more than the FY 2009 Estimate, for a total of $413.026 million.

Research Project Grants (+$4.4 million; total $290.7 million). NIDCD will support a total of 825 Research Project Grant (RPG) awards in FY 2010. Noncompeting RPGs will increase by 3 awards and $9.5 million. Competing RPGs will decrease by 18 awards and $4.7 million. The NIH policy for FY 2010 RPG's is a 2% inflationary increase for non-competing grants and a 2% average cost increase for competing grants.

Intramural Research (+$1.1 million; total $38.6 million). Intramural Research will receive an increase to cover the costs of pay and other increases.

Research Management and Support (+$0.3 million; total $19.5 million). The 1.8% increase will be partially used to cover the expenses associated with pay raises and other inflationary cost increases necessary to provide for the effective administration, planning and evaluation, public information and communications, and scientific leadership of the institute.

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Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Graphs

History of Budget Authority and FTEs

Distribution by Mechanism

Change by Selected Mechanism

Justification of Budget Request

Authorizing Legislation: Section 301 and title IV of the Public Health Service Act, as amended.

This document provides justification for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 activities of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), including HIV/AIDS activities. Details of the FY 2010 HIV/AIDS activities are in the "Office of AIDS Research (OAR)" Section of the Overview. Details on the Common Fund are located in the Overview, Volume One. Program funds are allocated as follows: Competitive Grants/Cooperative Agreements; Contracts; Direct Federal/Intramural and Other.

In FY 2009, a total of $102,984,000 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds were transferred from the Office of the Director. These funds will be used to support scientific research opportunities that help support the goals of the ARRA. The ARRA allows NIH to execute these funds via any NIH funding mechanism. Funds are available until September 30, 2010. These funds are not included in the FY 2009 Omnibus amounts reflected in this document.

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Director's Overview

Approximately one in every six Americans will experience a communication disorder of some extent in his or her lifetime. For these individuals, the basic components of communication (sensing, interpreting, and responding can be extremely challenging. To address these concerns, in October of 1988, Congress mandated the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) to support both basic and clinical research focused on understanding the normal processes and disorders of human communication. The NIDCD advances human communication research and mitigates the associated disorders by conducting and supporting research and research training in three program areas: hearing/balance, smell/taste, and voice/speech/language, as these processes are fundamental to the way we perceive and participate in the world around us.

NIDCD Accomplishments. In the past year, NIDCD has supported important activities in the following key areas of communication research:

Mammalian Hair Cell Regeneration. Sensorineural hearing loss is a common form of hearing impairment that occurs when sensory hair cells of the inner ear or auditory nerve cells are destroyed. Until recently, scientists believed that auditory hair cells in mammals could not regenerate following injury. However, in a landmark 2005 study, NIDCD-supported scientists utilized a viral vector carrying the gene Atoh1 to successfully regenerate auditory hair cells in deafened guinea pigs. Recently, NIDCD-supported scientists also have used this therapy to successfully produce functional auditory hair cells in the cochlea of the newborn mouse inner ear. Successful production of functional sensory hair cells in the inner ears of mice suggests that a new therapy to regain hearing in humans may be possible in the future.

Speech Therapy for Individuals with Parkinson's Disease. As many as one million people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) and 15 percent of these individuals are younger than 50 years of age. It is estimated that over 60 percent of individuals with PD have difficulties with speech and voice¹. The Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) program, developed by an NIDCD-supported scientist, focuses on vocal loudness and has been effective for treating speech disorders in individuals with PD. The LSVT program stimulates patients to produce louder healthy voices by using increased effort. The loud and effortful tasks are aimed at stimulating increased movement in the respiratory and laryngeal systems to improve air movement and vocal fold closure, as well as vocal tract function involved in speech. The physiological changes that take place as a result of the treatment have been found to improve voice quality and loudness, articulation, and speech intelligibility.

¹ www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/parkinsons_disease/detail_parkinsons_disease.htm

NIDCD Plans and Priorities. Intramural Research and Research Management and Support receive increases to cover the cost of pay and other increases. NIDCD strives to support new investigators and early-stage investigators in addition to maintaining an adequate number of competing Research Project Grants. The Research Project Grants mechanism continues to be NIDCD's highest priority, and accordingly receives most of the FY 2010 budget increase. NIDCD plans to support additional Autism research in FY 2010 by participating in one or more new trans-NIH initiatives in accordance with the recently developed Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee's Strategic Plan for Autism Research, with emphasis on projects involving communication disorders. Driven by compelling public health needs along with recent scientific progress, the NIDCD prioritizes research investments by identifying the most promising opportunities for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, thereby improving the quality of life for people who face the challenge of living with communication disorders.

Moving Forward: Patient-Oriented Research. The NIDCD seeks to conduct and support research and research training to answer patient-oriented scientific questions regarding the optimal means for preventing, screening, diagnosing, and treating disorders of human communication. The NIDCD continues its effort to promote collaborative research between scientists around the world. These endeavors will increase our knowledge to address the wide-ranging nature of the extent of human communication disorders. For example, the NIDCD hosted a workshop entitled "Exploring International Collaborative Research in Deafness and Other Communication Disorders" in September 2008. The NIDCD recognizes the need for well designed prevention, treatment, and intervention studies, using new clinical tools, prostheses and assistive devices, behavioral therapies or interventions, and medications to reap the benefits of the biomedical research progress that will ultimately benefit the individuals with communication disorders.

Moving Forward: Nourishing Budding Scientists. It is critical that a significant pool of qualified scientists be trained to address the growing problem of human communication disorders. Only by maintaining and extending NIDCD's established commitments to research training and career development will the research community be in a position to meet the strategic research priorities. NIDCD provides support for a unique NIDCD R03 program, which is specifically designed to support basic and clinical research of scientists who are in the early stages of establishing an independent research career, and the NIH Pathway to Independence (PI) Award K99 in order to prevent attrition of early stage investigators. Expedited review and priority is also given to funding of early stage investigators receiving their first R01 equivalent award within ten years of obtaining their terminal degree, or completing their clinical training. Support for expedited peer review and funding of individual pre- and post-doctoral fellowships enables individuals in training to obtain awards in a timely fashion while supporting innovative research.

Overall Budget Policy: NIDCD will continue to support new and early stage investigators, and maintain an adequate number of competing Research Project Grants (RPG's), particularly R01's. The budget provides a 2 percent inflationary increase for non-competing RPG's, and a 2 percent average cost increase for competing RPG's. The NIDCD allocates a portion of the funds available for competing RPG's to High Program Priority (HPP) projects outside of the automatic pay line. NIDCD will continue emphasizing faculty, postdoctoral and student training in our three program areas: hearing and balance; smell and taste; and voice, speech & language sciences. Trained investigators will be encouraged to choose a research career through the Pathways to Independence program. Intramural Research and Research Management and Support receive increases to cover the cost of pay and other increases.

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FY 2010 Justification by Activity Detail

Program Descriptions and Accomplishments

Hearing and Balance Program

Hearing impairment, deafness, and balance disorders can impose a heavy social and economic burden on individuals, their families, and their communities. Approximately 36 million American adults report some degree of hearing loss² and almost eight million adults report a chronic problem with balance³. In addition, approximately two to three of every 1,000 babies born in the United States each year have a detectable hearing loss⁴, which can affect their speech, language, social, and cognitive development. Both hearing and balance disorders are widely prevalent, decrease quality of life, and cross all ethnic and socioeconomic lines. Accordingly, research projects within the NIDCD Hearing and Balance program encompass a significant portion of NIDCD's portfolio and NIDCD utilizes a wide range of research approaches, including genetics, cellular and systems level analysis, biomedical imaging, nanotechnology, psychoacoustics, and structural biology to study normal and disordered functions of the auditory and vestibular systems. Ultimately, the NIDCD supports research that will lead to the improvement and/or prevention of hearing and balance disorders. For example, the NIDCD collaborates with the National Center for Health Statistics within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for audiometry testing and related questions on hearing loss and noise exposure in adolescents ages 12 to 19 years. In the past year, a study supported by the NIDCD and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, using 1999-2004 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found hearing loss to be twice as common in adults with diabetes when compared to those who do not have the disease. Scientists are now trying to determine if diabetes can cause hearing loss by damaging the nerves and blood vessels of the inner ear.

² Based on NCHS/NHIS data for 2007.

³ Based on prevalences from the 1994–95 Disability Supplement to the NHIS and current US population estimates.

⁴ White KR. The scientific basis for newborn hearing screening: Issues and evidence. Invited keynote address to the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Workshop sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, October 1997.

In addition, NIDCD-supported scientists are actively working to understand the genes responsible for hereditary hearing impairment. Hereditary or genetic causes account for approximately 50-60 percent of the severe to profound cases of childhood hearing loss⁵. At present, over 70 genes causing non-syndromic hereditary hearing impairment have been mapped. Many of these efforts were the result of collaborations involving NIH-supported scientists. Additionally, collaborative efforts with scientists in Columbia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, Newfoundland, Pakistan, Tunisia, Puerto Rico, and the United States, NIH are accelerating this gene discovery effort. These research investments in understanding the genetic basis of communication disorders will help scientists develop diagnostic tests and better treatments for the millions of Americans with hereditary hearing impairment.

⁵ Morton CC and Nance WE. Newborn hearing screening—a silent revolution. N Engl J Med 354: 2151–2164, 2006.

Budget Policy: The 2010 budget estimate for the Hearing and Balance program is $205.288 million, an increase of $2.526 million or +1.2 percent from the FY 2009 estimate. In FY 2010, the program will continue emphasizing faculty, postdoctoral and student training on hearing and balance sciences. Trained investigators will be encouraged to choose a research career through the Pathways to Independence program. Making R01 awards to first-time investigators and early-stage investigators in the area of hearing and balance sciences will be given funding priority.

Smell and Taste and Program

Each year, more than 200,000 people visit a physician for chemosensory problems such as smell or taste disorders.⁶ Many more smell or taste disorders go unreported. The NIDCD Smell and Taste program supports the study of the chemical senses (smell and taste) to enhance our understanding of how individuals communicate with their environments and how chemosensory disorders can be identified and treated. NIDCD-supported research on molecular and cellular biology, biophysics, and biochemistry of the olfactory and gustatory systems is paving the way for improved diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of chemosensory disorders, as smell and taste play important roles in our preferences and aversions for aromas, specific foods, and flavors. By providing knowledge about food preferences, research on smell and taste may help increase our understanding of obesity and diabetes. Serious health problems like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, malnutrition, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis are all accompanied or signaled by chemosensory problems.

⁶ www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/smelltaste/stquickstats.htm

For instance, in July 2008, the NIDCD sponsored a workshop at the International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste hosted by the Association for Chemoreception Sciences. The workshop, Ligand-Binding Properties of Taste and Smell Receptors, was organized to assess the barriers to progress and the needs of the community to conduct successful structure/function studies of taste and smell receptors. This research may yield crucial information needed to develop a wide range of health-related products, including non-caloric, palatable artificial sweeteners, sweet antagonists, bitter-blockers that moderate the undesirable bitterness of pediatric and HIV medications, and scented lures to the control the spread of infectious disease by insects (e.g., malaria by the Anopheles mosquito).

Budget Policy: The 2010 budget estimate for the Smell and Taste program is $61.959 million, an increase of $763 thousand or +1.2 percent from the FY 2009 estimate. In FY 2010, the program will continue emphasizing faculty, postdoctoral, and student training on smell and taste sciences. Trained investigators will be encouraged to choose a research career through the Pathways to Independence program. Making R01 awards to first-time investigators and early-stage investigators in the area of smell and taste sciences will be given funding priority.

Voice, Speech, and Language Program

Voice, speech, and language are all tools that individuals use to communicate or share thoughts, ideas, and emotions. However, approximately 7.5 million people in the United States have trouble using their voices⁷. By the first grade, roughly 5 percent of children have noticeable speech disorders⁸ and between 6 and 8 million people in the United States have some form of language impairment.⁹ The NIDCD Voice, Speech, and Language program continues to determine the nature, causes, and prevention of voice, speech, and language disorders. Disorders involving voice, speech, or language, as well as swallowing, can have an overwhelming effect on an individual's health and quality of life; they affect people of all ages with or without hearing impairment, including children with autism and adults with aphasia or dysarthria. Therefore, NIDCD continues its commitment to develop effective diagnostic and intervention strategies for people with voice, speech, or language impairments. Recently, NIDCD-supported scientists determined that, for children who struggle to learn language, the choice between various interventions may matter less than the intensity and format of the intervention. This study compared four intervention strategies in children who have unusual difficulty understanding and using language and found that all four methods resulted in significant, long-term improvements in the children's language abilities.

⁷ www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/vsl.asp

⁸ Shriberg LD, Tomblin JB, McSweeny JL. Prevalence of speech delay in 6-Year-old children and comorbidity with language impairment. J Speech Lang Hear Res 42: 1461–1481, 1999

⁹ www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/vsl.asp

Budget Policy: The 2010 budget estimate for the Voice, Speech, and Language program is $87.742 million, an increase of $1.080 million or +1.2 percent from the FY 2009 estimate. In FY 2010, the program will continue emphasizing faculty, postdoctoral, and student training on voice, speech, and language sciences. Trained investigators will be encouraged to choose a research career through the Pathways to Independence program. Making R01 awards to first-time investigators and early-stage investigators in the area of voice, speech, and language sciences will be given funding priority.

Intramural Research Program

NIDCD's Division of Intramural Research conducts basic and clinical research in the areas of human communication, with the dominant subject of interest being hearing. Research projects address the genetics of communication disorders in human and mouse models; the molecular mechanisms governing inner ear development; neuroimaging and computer modeling of brain function; characterization of neurotransmission and signal transduction; and development of vaccines against otitis media. This intense concentration on hearing research and its genetic etiology has allowed NIDCD intramural scientists to make significant progress on this research priority. In the past year, NIDCD intramural research has shed light on how infection-induced "cross talk" between molecules can cause swelling and fluid retention within the lining of the Eustachian tube, blocking it, preventing drainage, and making an individual susceptible to recurrent ear infection. This work suggests new drug targets to prevent hearing loss in children who suffer recurrent ear infections. Finally, intramural researchers compared inner ear development in normal mice and in a deaf mouse mutant to understand the role of the mutated gene. NIDCD intramural research has identified numerous gene mutations that cause congenital and progressive hearing impairment. Knowledge of the identity of these genes provides a basis for more precise genotypic diagnosis and highlights molecules within the inner ear that are essential for normal function.

Budget Policy: The 2010 budget estimate for the Intramural research program is $38.576 million, an increase of $1.063 million or 2.8 percent from the FY 2009 estimate. The NIDCD intramural research program has been a leader in research on hereditary hearing impairment and has identified many genes whose mutation causes hearing loss. In FY 2010, NIDCD intramural scientist will continue their efforts in identifying mutation in genes which impacts hearing. This will contribute to NIDCD's Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) goal on identifying or studying additional genes involved in communication disorders in humans and animal models.

Research Management and Support (RMS) Program

NIDCD RMS activities provide administrative, budgetary, logistical, and scientific support in the review, award, and monitoring of research grants, training awards and research and development contracts. RMS functions also include strategic planning, coordination, and evaluation of the Institute's programs, regulatory compliance, international coordination, and liaison with other Federal agencies, Congress, and the public. The Institute currently oversees over 1,300 research grants, training awards, and research and development contracts. A unique and notable aspect of NIDCD's RMS is the coordination of trans-NIH administrative activities for the NIH Stem Cell Task Force. The NIDCD Science Policy and Planning Branch manages and coordinates the activities and meetings of these trans-NIH stem cell committees and provides support to the directors of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and NIDCD, who serve as the chair and vice-chair of the NIH Stem Cell Task Force. Another area where NIDCD has taken the lead is preventing noise-induced hearing loss in youth. The NIDCD Office of Communication and Public Liaison has recently launched the campaign It's a Noisy Planet. Protect Their Hearing. This national public education campaign is designed to increase awareness among parents of children ages 8 to 12 about the causes of and how to prevent noise-induced hearing loss. With this information, parents and other adults can encourage children to adopt healthy hearing habits before and during the time that they develop listening, leisure, and working habits.

Budget Policy: The 2010 budget estimate for the RMS program is $19.461 million, an increase of $335 thousand or 1.8 percent from the FY 2009 estimate. Consistent with President Obama's Executive Order to expand human stem cell research, NIDCD will continue to manage activities of the NIH Stem Cell Task Force.

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NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Authorizing Legislation

	PHS Act/Other Citation	U.S. Code Citation	2007 Amount Authorized	FY 2008 Enacted	2008 Amount Authorized	FY 2009 Budget Estimate
Research and Investigation	Section 301	42§241	Indefinite	$407,259,000	Indefinite	$413,026,000
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders	Section 402(a)	42§281	Indefinite		Indefinite
Total, Budget Authority				407,259,000		$413,026,000

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