RESEARCH FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Office of Naval Research Funds Nearly $2 Million in Tinnitus Research
By Jennifer Born, ATA Director of Public Affairs, Editor, Tinnitus Today
ATA has worked diligently to increase federal funding for tinnitus research over the past six years. Our three- pronged approach has encouraged the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Department of Defense (DoD) to work collaboratively in advancing the science and treatment of tinnitus.
The Department of Defense has rapidly increased their spending on tinnitus research and become a major funding player, mostly due to the extreme increases in tinnitus in personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. One particular entity of DoD that has been especially attentive to the issue of tinnitus is the Office of Naval Research (ONR). In addition to having a specific Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Program (NIHL), ONR helped fund the Fifth International Tinnitus Research Initiative Conference held in Buffalo, NY in August 2011, and most recently in partnership with the U.S. Army, funded two large tinnitus research grants to very deserving investigators.
Former ATA Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Chair, Richard Salvi, Ph.D., and current SAC member Donald Caspary, Ph.D., are the recipients of the two grants outlined below and combined, received approxi- mately $1,883,000 for their research projects. ONR also funded four other grants focusing on noise-induced hearing loss during this funding cycle, including the development of a hearing loss simulator for Navy and VA evaluation that includes a tinnitus module.
Richard Salvi, Ph.D. New York State University at Buffalo
“Tinnitus Susceptibility, Chronic Stress and Drug Therapy”
Proposed Research: Blastwave exposure and continuous noise are the major causes of tinnitus among combat personnel returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Previous epidemiological studies have suggested that chronic stress can exacerbate noise-induced tinnitus. Our working hypothesis is that chronic restraint stress plus noise exposure will significantly increase the likelihood of developing tinnitus over blastwave or continuous noise alone.
No drugs are currently approved to treat tinnitus. In a recent drug screen, we identified a potassium channel modulator that suppressed drug-induced
22 Tinnitus Today | Summer 2012
tinnitus presumably by reducing neural excitability. Our working hypothesis is that this potassium chan- nel modulator will also suppress tinnitus and audi- tory cortex hyper-excitability induced by blastwave or continuous noise exposure. These studies are designed to identify factors that contribute to the induction of noise-induced tinnitus and drugs that may be used to treat tinnitus.
Donald Caspary, Ph.D. Southern Illinois University
“A Novel GABAA Receptor Subtype in Auditory Thalamus: A Potential New Target for Tinnitus Treatment”
Proposed Research: Noise exposure is the most common cause of tinnitus and the Naval working environment presents many challenging high-noise situations. Naval noise levels can be so intense that standard hearing protection is not adequate. A developing hypothesis suggests that dysfunction of inhibitory neurotransmis- sion within the central nervous system circuits may underpin chronic human neuropathies, including tinni- tus and chronic pain.
All proposed studies will
compare control animals (rats) with animals showing behav- ioral evidence of tinnitus as indi- cated by a noise
“NIHL and tinnitus are related auditory system injuries. Tinnitus research is a nec- essary addition in order to achieve a balanced approach to hearing research which will benefit our service personnel and the American public.”
~ Kurt Yankaskas ONR NIHL Program Manager
exposure gap/startle model of tinnitus. Studies will examine tinnitus-related pre- and postsynaptic changes in the inhibitory systems of the auditory thalamus. Findings from these studies in auditory thalamus should enhance understanding of the role of GABA neurotransmission in the development of tinnitus and aid in the development of an effective drug therapy.
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