A custom capture panel (MiamiOtoGenes), with a target size of approximately 1.158 MB encompassing 3494 regions, was designed to include all exons, 5' UTRs and 3' UTRs of 180 known and candidate deafness causing genes using the Agilent SureDesign online tool (SureDesign/">https://earray.chem.agilent.com/SureDesign/). The Agilent's SureSelect Target Enrichment (Agilent, Santa Clara, CA) of coding exons and flanking intronic sequences in-solution hybridization capture system was used following the manufacturer's standard protocol. Adapter sequences for the Illumina HiSeq2000 were ligated and the enriched DNA samples were prepared using the standard methods for the HiSeq2000 instrument (Illumina) (Yan et al. 2016 (link)).