SLC26A4 and hearing loss disorder: Pathogenic variants of the pendrin protein rising from sequence alterations in the SLC26A4 gene (OMIM *605646) are involved in determining two of the most common forms of genetically inherited hearing loss, i.e., Pendred syndrome (phenotype MIM number 274600) and non-syndromic autosomal recessive deafness B4 (DFNB4, phenotype MIM number 600791) [9].