DoD Hearing Restoration Focused Program Award | W81XWH 19 HRRP FRA

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 19 HRRP FRA

The DoD Hearing Restoration Focused Program Award (FY19 HRRP FRA) is a Department of Defense research funding opportunity administered through the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). It is positioned as a science and technology research and development program aimed at pushing forward practical, near-term progress in hearing restoration and the broader problem of auditory dysfunction, with an emphasis on work that can meaningfully speed up therapeutic outcomes rather than purely exploratory studies.

At its core, this award mechanism is meant to support promising research that can do one of two things: accelerate drug discovery and therapeutic development specifically for hearing restoration, or accelerate advances in how auditory dysfunction is assessed, diagnosed, and treated. In other words, the program is looking for work that moves the field toward interventions and clinical impact, whether that is identifying and validating drug candidates, improving translational pathways for therapies, or creating better approaches and tools for detecting and managing hearing-related conditions. The scope is not limited only to restoring hearing through drugs, but it clearly prioritizes research that shortens the time between scientific insight and usable medical solutions.

A central requirement is relevance to Department of Defense populations and mission needs. Proposed research must be applicable to active duty Service members, Veterans, military beneficiaries, and/or the American public. This reflects the real-world burden of hearing loss and auditory injury in military settings, where noise exposure and other service-related factors can lead to long-term impairment, and it also aligns the program with broader public health impact.

The funding instrument types available under this opportunity include both grants and cooperative agreements. That means some awards may involve closer collaboration or involvement from the funding agency than a standard grant, depending on how the project is structured and what level of coordination the program determines is appropriate. The opportunity is categorized as discretionary, and it falls under CFDA 12.420.

Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning the competition is broadly open to applicants of any organizational type, subject to any additional eligibility details that may be specified in the full announcement. Practically, this typically allows participation from universities, nonprofits, small businesses, large companies, and other research-performing entities, which fits the program's clear interest in cross-sector development and translation.

Collaboration is not just permitted but actively encouraged. The program strongly favors multidisciplinary teams and partnerships that bring together academia, industry, military Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other federal agencies. This kind of structure is designed to strengthen translational potential by combining basic science expertise, clinical insight, regulatory and development experience, and access to relevant populations or operational context. For applicants, this emphasis signals that proposals demonstrating integrated capabilities and a realistic pathway toward deployment or clinical use may be especially responsive.

From the source details provided, the funding opportunity number is W81XWH 19 HRRP FRA. The opportunity was created on May 14, 2019, with an original closing date of November 14, 2019. The program anticipated making around 9 awards. The listed award ceiling is 0, which typically indicates that a specific maximum dollar limit was not expressed in that summary field and would need to be confirmed in the full funding announcement or related program guidance.

Overall, the FY19 HRRP Focused Program Award is best read as a translationally oriented DoD research opportunity: it supports high-potential projects that can speed progress toward hearing restoration therapies or materially improve the clinical pathway for identifying and treating auditory dysfunction, while keeping strong focus on military and veteran relevance and encouraging partnerships that can move discoveries toward real-world application.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Hearing Restoration Focused Program Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 14, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 14, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 9 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for W81XWH 19 HRRP FRA

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