The Institute of Laryngology & Otology became part of the UCL Ear Institute on the 1st of January 2005.
In 2000 an £11m Joint Infrastructure Fund grant from the Wellcome Foundation was awarded to build a Centre for Auditory Research to bring together auditory research scientists and clinicians from across UCL. The new centre was a companion to the long standing Institute of Laryngology and Otology (ILO) and its incorporated School of Audiology. This cross faculty, multidisciplinary group needed a new, unifying identity so the ILO was disestablished and the Ear Institute created. Prof David McAlpine became the new Director of the Ear Institute in June 2006, taking over from Prof Tony Wright.