Strategies of the Tinnitus Research Consortium.
CONCLUSIONS
Research supported by private philanthropy complements governmental support of research, and its organization can undertake analysis of the whole field, identify the initial steps required to advance the field, draw attention to the intellectual challenge of a field such as tinnitus, recruit scientists to a neglected area, direct support to the most promising research approaches and opportunities, and dedicate support to those endeavors.


OBJECTIVE
The efforts of the Tinnitus Research Consortium (TRC) are to accelerate progress in basic and clinical research on tinnitus.


METHODS
The TRC analyzes the field of tinnitus research, brainstorms for new research approaches to tinnitus and provides guidance to the scientific community through requests for applications (RFAs) on promising research approaches and opportunities. The analysis of the research field has focused on the validity of animal models of tinnitus, the need for a standardized outcome measure in clinical trials, and the control of confounding variables in basic and clinical studies of the mechanisms of and site(s) associated with tinnitus.


RESULTS
The TRC judged that the existing animal models were worthy of further study and refinement and that additional animal models should be developed. In response to an RFA, a project for the development and validation of the new Tinnitus Functional Index was initiated. A confounding aspect of experimental induction of tinnitus is the occurrence of hearing loss. The experimental manipulation causing the hearing loss may or may not cause tinnitus. Segregation of the correlates of tinnitus from the consequences of hearing loss requires the inclusion of a second control group: animals that have been subjected to the manipulation for the induction of tinnitus and have a hearing loss but fail to exhibit signs of tinnitus. Comparison of normal animals, animals with hearing loss without tinnitus and animals with hearing loss and tinnitus greatly enhances the value of the research. Clinical research on the mechanisms and sites of tinnitus is also confounded by this problem, and the solution is to include controls matched for hearing loss without tinnitus.
Snow
James B
JB
Tinnitus Research Consortium, West Grove, PA, USA. jandssnow@comcast.net
D000588:Amines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*; D032921:Consensus; D003509:Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000379:methods; D000077206:Gabapentin; D006285:Health Planning; D006801:Humans; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000588:Amines; D000700:Analgesics; D003509:Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids; D000077206:Gabapentin; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid