The NIDCD conducts and supports research in the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language.

Debara L. Tucci, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., is the director of the NIDCD.

The NIDCD supports approximately 1,300 research grants, training awards, and contracts at NIH and at labs across the country.

The NIDCD is the nation’s leading funder of biomedical and behavioral research and training in hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language.

The NIDCD provides research training and career development opportunities to prepare a talented and diverse biomedical research workforce.

The NIDCD intramural research program conducts basic and clinical research in human communication, with a primary interest in hearing and balance.