Think bigger.
Never underestimate how much money some people spend on due diligence...
Billionaire spends $35M to investigate $400K wine fraud
When he discovered the wine he paid $400,000 for was not really owned by Thomas Jefferson, billionaire Bill Koch spent $35 million to investigate and confront the fraudsters
That's for wine.
WINE.
Now, suppose there is someone who fits this character profile... but instead of being aggravated by a fake wine peddler... he/she is aggravated by a chronic medical condition that causes constant ringing/buzzing in the ears...
And suppose this person wants a cure ASAP.
What happens?
He/she puts his/her best people on it. People who are hired (often on retainer) to find things. Anything.
Anything.
He/she tells these people: $100 million. Cure or bust. Looking for some horses to back. Find me my jockey(s). You have until EOY.
Do you think these people come back and tell him/her to write a blank cheque to TRT or CBT research?
Are you f-ing kidding me? (Another reason I was laughing.........)
Or would this person expect a list of private sector companies and mechanisms - vetted/dissected by a community of human "BS detectors" who are not beholden to special interests............
Are you connecting the dots?
Forgive me for being so cryptic.
To answer your question, I personally know people who are in this line of work and I remain in close contact with them. For a variety of reasons. (No, it is not me. I have no interests or agenda here other than keeping my finger on the pulse of tinnitus cure-related news and information. And the memes, I stay for the memes.)
Another example, unrelated to what I've just explained:
[edit: removed example, not necessary/tangential to discussion]
These people do not care about credentials as much as some would believe.
These people trust markets of ideas where information can flow and be tested - sink or swim. Publicly, they will not say anything that rubs up against the establishment. Privately, they are frustrated by the "bloated" and ineffective bureaucracies (this applies to charities and foundations, too!).
You would be surprised where these people (or, rather, their "hired finders") get their information from, why, and how sophisticated the methodology is.
I could write about this topic for a LONG time.
But I will need to cut this short... and just quietly chuckle to myself when I read uninformed / "authoritative" statements about how much weight certain opinions carry......
tl;dr you never know who is watching or the resources they can commit behind one tiny idea or opinion