DoW Hearing Restoration Focused Research Award

The Hearing Restoration Research Program Focused Research Award is a federal funding opportunity administered through the Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity under the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. The program announcement, identified as HT942526HRRPFRA, supports the fiscal year 2026 Hearing Restoration Research Program and is intended to accelerate the development of therapies and translational research approaches that address military-relevant hearing loss and auditory system injury. The program is rooted in the Department of Defense objective of reducing the burden of hearing loss among Service Members and Veterans. Congress initiated the Hearing Restoration Research Program in 2017, and appropriations from fiscal years 2017 through 2024 totaled approximately $70 million. The fiscal year 2026 appropriation for the program is $5 million. The award mechanism supports promising research ranging from basic science through translational development and clinical research activities, although clinical trials are specifically prohibited. The Focused Research Award supports projects that align with at least one of the program’s designated focus areas. These focus areas include accelerating biological repair and regeneration mechanisms into clinical applications, developing diagnostic tests capable of differentiating sensory, neural, synaptic, and central auditory disorders, and creating reliable in vitro human models for hearing restoration research and therapeutic evaluation. The program specifically excludes tinnitus-related research, vestibular research, and clinical trials. Applicants proposing therapeutic interventions must clearly distinguish whether their work focuses on restoring hearing after established hearing loss or preserving cells and synapses after acute auditory injury. Applications are expected to demonstrate rigorous scientific methodology, strong rationale, feasibility, and translational relevance to military health. The announcement also emphasizes reproducibility, statistical rigor, inclusion of sex as a biological variable, and consideration of pathways toward regulatory acceptance and eventual clinical implementation. Two funding levels are available under this opportunity. Funding Level 1 supports exploratory, high-risk, high-reward research projects that are in early stages of development and may not yet have preliminary data. Funding Level 1 projects may request up to $400,000 in total costs over a maximum period of performance of two years. Funding Level 2 supports more mature projects advancing toward clinical translation and requires preliminary data demonstrating readiness and feasibility. Funding Level 2 applications may request up to $1.2 million in total costs over a maximum period of performance of three years. Funding Level 2 also includes an optional Partnering Principal Investigator Option that allows two principal investigators to submit coordinated applications with separate awards. Funding Level 2 applications must include travel funding for investigators to attend one Department of Defense-sponsored meeting, such as the Military Health System Research Symposium in Central Florida, during the second or third year of the project. Additional allowable costs may include travel supporting collaborations and participant reimbursement expenses. The announcement states that cost sharing is not required. Eligibility for the program is broad and includes extramural and intramural Department of War organizations, domestic and foreign organizations, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, public and private entities, and eligible independent investigators regardless of nationality or citizenship status. Awards are made to organizations rather than individuals. The application process uses a two-step submission model. Applicants must first submit a required Letter of Intent through the Electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal. Full applications are subsequently submitted through Grants.gov for extramural organizations or through eBRAP for intramural Department of War organizations. The pre-application deadline is August 25, 2026, and the full application deadline is September 10, 2026. The end of the application verification period is September 15, 2026. Peer review is anticipated in November 2026, with programmatic review occurring in January 2027. Awards are expected to be made no later than September 30, 2027. The application package contains extensive required components. Applicants must prepare a project narrative, technical abstract, lay abstract, statement of work, impact statement, relevance to military health statement, and supporting documentation. Depending on the nature of the project, applicants may also need to submit animal research plans, partnership statements, inclusion enrollment reports, and intragovernmental budget forms. The project narrative requires detailed discussion of research rationale, specific aims, research strategy, statistical plans, inclusion strategies, reproducibility methods, potential pitfalls, and feasibility. Supporting documentation includes references, facilities descriptions, publications, letters of support, and research sharing plans. Applicants choosing the Partnering Principal Investigator Option must coordinate separate but linked submissions for each principal investigator. The funding opportunity also requires applicants to maintain active registrations in SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eBRAP prior to submission. Applications are reviewed through a two-tier process consisting of peer review followed by programmatic review. Peer review evaluates research idea and rationale, research strategy and feasibility, impact, and personnel qualifications. Additional unscored considerations include the research sharing plan, budget appropriateness, institutional environment, and overall presentation quality. Programmatic review considers adherence to the intent of the award mechanism, contribution to the Hearing Restoration Research Program portfolio, relative impact, and military health relevance. The program strongly encourages multidisciplinary collaborations among academia, industry, Department of War entities, Veterans Affairs institutions, and federal agencies. Funded projects involving traumatic brain injury clinical research with at least 50 subjects must share data through the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Research Information System. Award recipients will also be subject to annual and final technical reporting requirements, inclusion enrollment reporting for clinical research, and additional integrity and performance disclosures where applicable. Applicants are encouraged to begin preparation early because the registration and submission systems may require several weeks for activation and verification. The announcement warns that failure to meet submission deadlines will result in rejection without exceptions. Questions regarding eBRAP submission requirements and technical assistance may be directed to the eBRAP Help Desk at help@eBRAP.org or 301-682-5507. Grants.gov registration and workspace support are available through support@grants.gov or 800-518-4726. The funding opportunity is identified under Assistance Listing Number 12.420 and is available through the Defense Health Agency Hearing Restoration Research Program Focused Research Award announcement.

Align the proposal with at least one FY26 HRRP focus area and clearly demonstrate military relevance. Emphasize rigorous experimental design, reproducibility, translational feasibility, and strong statistical planning. Applications proposing therapeutic interventions should clearly connect pathology to real-world auditory injuries and explain regulatory readiness considerations. Preliminary data are strongly important for Funding Level 2 applications.