Research Grant to Study Tinnitus for the DOD
Friday, May 15th, 2009The Department of Defense has awarded a $1.27 million grant to the University of Kansas to study tinnitus. Tinnitus and hearing loss are the number one injury claim made by armed forces personnel returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Scientists will focus on whether the regeneration of hair cells in the inner ear can not only restore hearing, but also reduce tinnitus and restore normal brain function to targeted areas. This is the first clinical study that will examine the efficacy of replacing inner-ear hair cells to treat the disease. Researchers will conduct their studies in an animal model and then translate those results so they can be applied to humans. They study will last three years.
According to one of the researchers, Dianne Durham, PhD, professor of otolaryngology, “Our objective is to cure tinnitus, but first we have to find out what causes the ringing noises. Since the inner-ear hair cells transmit signals to the brain, we think replacing them will put us a step closer to our goal.”
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