Research Grant to Study Tinnitus for the DOD
The 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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The 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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June 19th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
I have a severe hearing loss, from scarlet fever at age two. The loss was not discovered until in my teens. There were no antibiotics back then, I was quarintined at home.Right now I wear two hearing aids, without them I am nearly deaf.Everyone I talk to says there is nothing that can be done for my tinnitus. It is so bad I could scream, and am nearly in tears most of the time.My audiologist says no surgery will help, and there is nothing that can be done.I just can’t believe that! I am in my 60’s, but surely not done living. Please can someone point me in the right direction for help? What about clinical trials, I will try anything. Thanks
June 20th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Audiologists are not the best specialists to consult about tinnitus treatment. They are primarily concerned with instrumentation and are not up on other treatments. I have what I hope are positive recommendations to you.
Michael Seidman, MD is our Medical Specialist and is one of the pre-eminent ENT physicians working with tinnitus. He is able to help most of his patients and has kindly allowed us to publish his treatment protocol. This consists of all the steps he goes through treating tinnitus patients, from people only slightly bothered to those, like you, to whom it is a devastating condition. His treatment protocol can be seen at
http://www.tinnitusformula.com/infocenter/articles/treatments/seidman_proto.aspx
There is also the possibility that cochlear implants will help you. This is serious surgery where the surgeon removes the existing cochlea and replaces it with an electronic device. Hearing never returns to a youthful state but it improves dramatically and, in most cases, tinnitus is either significantly reduced or completely resolved. An article on this can be seen at
http://www.tinnitusformula.com/infocenter/articles/treatments/coch.aspx
I hope there is something in these articles that will be helpful for you.
Barry Keate
June 24th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I thought this was very interesting given the focus on research around brain activity. It may well be a much better way than RTMS to quiet the hearing centers.
July 29th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I have had mild tinnitus for most of my adult life.(47 years ) I just thought it was normal I guess. Recently, I began learning more about it when out of the blue my tinnitus increased at least tenfold and was almost unbearable. Can you say panic? After a few days it went to back to normal levels then back up again shortly after. It was literally like someone was turning up the volume on it. I was lucky and figured out that my tinnitus was somehow linked to my sinuses or at least my inner ear feeling clogged (as in muccus, I guess) Anyway my cure has been sudafed and an alleeve as soon as it increases. So far within an hour it goes back to normal and to completely acceptable levels. The challenge for anyone suffering with tinnitus is to find out the cause of it and from what I have read it can be many things. Oh yeah, since I was 12 years old I sleep with a fan nearby which masks it beautifully so I can sleep.I hope this helps someone.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
I was discussing tinnitus with a close friend of mine. He proposed that some tinnitus sufferers may have symptoms as a result of not getting quite enough airflow while they sleep. More specifically, he suggests that many sufferers have narrow nasal airways, and that breathing through one’s nose at night sets up a slight vacuum that repeats itself each time a sufferer inhales through their nose. He concluded by noting that this repeated slight vacuum could be ONE of the causes of tinnitus.
I tested his theory and he was right. Several patients reported their worst boughts of aggrivated tinnitus were significantly lessened by patients wearing the over-the-counter “Breathe Right” strips while they sleep, and trying to sleep on their backs.
Of course it won’t help everyone, but any NEWER sufferer should seriously consider trying it for a few nights, particularly when you notice you are experiencing a heightened level of tinnitus because it’s so easy to try. I do wish you well.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:53 am
hey that last comment sounds great! let me try breathe right strips from tonite and see the difference. i also snore due to narrow passage in my nose (large swollen pollips), maybe i got tinnitus due to this. No doubt for me radio hissing sound plays a great masker fro my tinnitus, to enable me to go to sleep!! but anyhow forget about thinking on tinnitus, live life as it comes. Cheers!!
March 28th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
I concur that Audiologists are not the best to consult about this condition. The one one I went to see told me that there was no cure and then tried to sell me an overpriced hearing loss device. When I said that I was unable to afford one, she lost interest!
May 14th, 2010 at 9:13 am
My tinnitus a cycling event with phases that are identical. it comes and leaves the same way. i always think it’s gone but every two weeks it returns and stays for two weeks. hissing, tonal, and roaring sounds i have tried many remedies, from Arches to quietess, hearing aids etc. Can the cycle be broken? There is more info I can give. Is their one institution in our country that specializes in tinnitus? I have seen many audiologists and ENT’s to no avail.most of the noise is in the brain or on the left side of the brain.