https://www.kpwashingtonresearch.or...kpwhri-3-heal-grants-totaling-over-15-million
15 million went to CBT (in this case), only 1 million went to WinSanTor a company focused on reversing peripheral neuropathy.
In this particular case it's about chronic pain treatment and in an attempt to lower opioid dependency. I can imagine the need for an alternative that is available now, so I understand the bias towards CBT. It seems US doctors are happy to prescribe these kinds of drugs that are obviously not a long term solution, create dependency and come with a host of side effects and problems. I don't know if CBT had been previously researched in this field, so I'm not familiar with the context. Once the efficacy (or not) is established it's reasonable to not go further down the same route and investing more money into researching CBT.
Opioids for chronic pain (or in a sort of analogy, benzos for tinnitus) never really came across for me as a long-term solution. They may have their use, but you don't have to browse this forum for long to find plenty of reasons not to take them. For me, it's covering up and immediate problem with a delayed problem, essentially making you have to deal with both tinnitus and benzo withdrawal at some point in the future.
While not in proportion, the money going into researching peripheral neuropathy isn't going to yield results anytime soon so it makes sense the majority of money was put where it was needed, as in, a more accessible solution for now...
Still, none of this is about tinnitus really. I still stand by my point and to my knowledge there is no major study into CBT for tinnitus ongoing at the moment. It has been researched, and the data at least suggests it's effective, as opposed to shining a laser in your ear. It's not the solution we dream of, but we also need real treatments now.
Personally I find the money that was put into the research of CBT for tinnitus was more useful than some study about coffee and tinnitus...
The thing with studies is: until you research something, there's no way of knowing what the results will be, and even ascertaining that something is not effective will ultimately lead us closer to a cure... in hindsight some studies may seem stupid, but at least someone made sure it doesn't work. No researcher ever deliberately wants his research to lead to a dead end, but these outnumber the useful studies probably by a 100 to 1.
What have we got?
Benzos: instead of 1 problem, you'll soon have 2.
TRT: an expensive solution, for some.
CBT: proven to help with tinnitus annoyance, not the tinnitus itself. Not what we want, but it's what we got now.
Levo/Desyncra/Lenire: see TRT
rTMS: risky business. Let's zap your brain, see what happens.
Trobalt: you can't find any. If you do, better not touch it or your eyes go blue. No, not like Sinatra.
FX-322: can't come soon enough.
Audion: dud.
I'm currently doing CBT/ACT. At least it keeps me occupied while someone, somewhere tinkers on a cure. And you know, maybe it might help. I haven't got high hopes but I don't want to jeopardize it by telling it won't before I got started.