Scientists Studying the Causes of a Type of Progressive Hearing

Scientists studying the causes of a type of progressive hearing loss known as otosclerosis want to identify the genetic contribution to the disorder. By which of the following are they most likely to find a causative gene or genes?

A) a genome-wide association study with a large number of SNPs, using pooled DNA samples
B) genome-wide linkage analysis studies of families whose members have otosclerosis
C) a candidate gene case-control association study with genes known to be involved in ear development
D) comparison of gene expression among otosclerosis patients
E) allelic heterogeneity studies for a gene expected to be involved