Professor Frank Lin

Professor Frank Lin
Professor of Otolaryngology, Medicine, Mental Health, and Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Frank R Lin, M.D., Ph.D. is a Professor and the Director of the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. As an otologic surgeon and epidemiologist, Dr Lin has translated his clinical experiences caring for patients with hearing loss into foundational public health research and federal policy in the US.  

His epidemiological research from 2010–2014 established the association between hearing loss, cognitive decline and dementia, and his research served as the direct basis for the Lancet Commission on Dementia conclusion that hearing loss is the leading modifiable risk factor for dementia.  

Based on this early research, he initiated the ACHIEVE study in 2014. The results of this landmark randomised trial were released in 2023, establishing that treating hearing loss reduces loss of thinking and memory abilities by 48% among older adults at increased risk for cognitive decline. In parallel, Dr Lin has collaborated with the National Academies, White House and Congress to develop policies to ensure hearing loss can be effectively and sustainably addressed in society. These efforts directly resulted in bipartisan passage of the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017. Dr Lin testified on this before Congress and the final enactment of federal regulations for OTC hearing aids in the US in October 2022.  

Dr Lin has subsequently collaborated with the Consumer Technology Association to develop the standard for a consumer-facing hearing metric based on the four-frequency pure-tone average (PTA4 hearing number) to empower consumers to track, monitor and act on their own hearing.  

As the director of a public health research center, Dr Lin’s academic efforts are focused on reshaping the rules and assumptions underlying the global hearing care market, in order to ensure the market is optimised to advance public health.