Director- Oct 24, 2017
- 849
- Tinnitus Since
- 10/2017
- Cause of Tinnitus
- one-sided hearing loss (of unknown origin)
This is the million dollar question isn't it? The reason many of you are here every day asking for help, venting your frustrations, and bonding over this affliction is that we don't have a cure. And what's worse we don't yet seem close to it either. This article provides a comprehensive overview of all the reasons why. It's co-authored, amongst others, by @David from the BTA.
I'm sure the article won't contain much new information for those of you intimately familiar with tinnitus research, but for the newbies or those who don't have the time or inclinication to spend many hours digging, it's a highly informative summary of a complex and multi-faceted topic.
It's written in quite an accessible manner, so if you have 30 minutes to spare I would say read the whole thing. But if you don't, here's my summary:
There's a wide gap between the treatments that patients want and what's actually available. Overwhelmingly, patients are NOT satisfied with current tinnitus services. They want treatments that truly alleviate the tinnitus itself, rather than help to cope with it. Yet, even though the economic incentives are clear, the amount of tinnitus research done is hugely disproportional to the size of the problem.
The main obstacles to a cure are listed as:
The article does not pose much in terms of solutions, but perhaps that was deliberate. Hopefully, this is just a first step and further discussion and collaboration will follow, which will lead to concrete solutions.
I'm sure the article won't contain much new information for those of you intimately familiar with tinnitus research, but for the newbies or those who don't have the time or inclinication to spend many hours digging, it's a highly informative summary of a complex and multi-faceted topic.
It's written in quite an accessible manner, so if you have 30 minutes to spare I would say read the whole thing. But if you don't, here's my summary:
There's a wide gap between the treatments that patients want and what's actually available. Overwhelmingly, patients are NOT satisfied with current tinnitus services. They want treatments that truly alleviate the tinnitus itself, rather than help to cope with it. Yet, even though the economic incentives are clear, the amount of tinnitus research done is hugely disproportional to the size of the problem.
The main obstacles to a cure are listed as:
- A dire lack of research funding, compared to other conditions with a similar health/economic burden;
- The interdisciplinary nature of tinnitus research makes it quite fragmented;
- Even the basic facts about tinnitus, like how many people have it, are unclear and disputed;
- The heterogeneity of the condition, and its as yet undefined subtypes, complicate testing of treatments;
- Clinical trials often include or exclude the wrong patient groups;
- Designing a good trial is hard because of the lack of objective outcome measures or biomarkers;
- The basic brain mechanisms underlying tinnitus are still unknown (different theories exist);
- Treatments that work in animal models often fail in human subjects;
- Some drugs may only work for patients who've had tinnitus for shorter/longer;
- There is no agreement on what a "cure" even means — total eradication of the tinnitus might not be realistic;
- There are few precedents for how to get a tinnitus drug to market.
The article does not pose much in terms of solutions, but perhaps that was deliberate. Hopefully, this is just a first step and further discussion and collaboration will follow, which will lead to concrete solutions.
Member
) but I think we should be researching this on our own here and really putting forth some effort to figure this out. It could be fruitless bit we should try.
