Y-linked inheritance of non-syndromic hearing impairment in a large Chinese family

Hearing impairment is a common condition responsible for communication disorders affecting one in 1000 newborns.1,2 A national poll by the China Association of the Handicapped in 1987 showed that 20.57 million people in the country were affected by auditory or speech disorders, accounting for 34% of the 60 million disabled or 1.58% of the total Chinese population (1.3 billion) (www.cdpf.org.cn). Hearing impairment is caused by environmental and...