Oxidative stress also contributes to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL); we found that p66shc expression and serine phosphorylation were induced following noise exposure in the rat cochlea, together with markers of oxidative stress, inflammation and ischemia as indicated by the levels of the hypoxic inducible factor (HIF) and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the highly vascularised cochlear lateral region and spiral ganglion. The gene discussed is VEGFA; the disease is noise induced hearing loss.