MITF and deafness: Our study shows evidence that congenital pigment-associated deafness in these three piebald breeds is a complex trait but we did not identify any association signal near the piebald locus, MITF. We find an increase in GWAS power when unilaterally deaf dogs are excluded, suggesting this is a complicated developmental trait that warrants further study with larger sample sizes to disentangle the genetic underpinnings.