American Tinnitus Association

American Tinnitus Association aims to improve the lives of people with tinnitus and hyperacusis by providing hope of a quieter future through education, advocacy, and research toward a cure.

ATA was founded by Jack A. Vernon, Ph.D., and Charles Unice, Ph.D., in Portland, Oregon in 1971.

This thread will contain news from our friends at the ATA. You are welcome to comment on the news items posted in this thread.

 

American Tinnitus Association are continuing with their webinar series this March, with "Pharmacology: What Drugs Are Being Targeted for Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Relief"

This live broadcast will stream on March 15, 2016 at 8 PM EDT
(7 PM CDT, 6 PM MDT, 5 PM PDT).

ATA invites you to the webinar featuring ATA Scientific Advisory Committee member Michael E. Hoffer, M.D., from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and former ATA Scientific Advisory Committee member James Kaltenbach from the Cleveland Clinic.

Read more: http://ata.org/news/news/register-now-atas-march-webinar-pharmacology

 

The recording of the ATA's Pharmacology webinar has been released and is available for viewing below.

Pharmacology: What Drugs Are Being Targeted...

 

A previous webinar organized by the ATA, on the subject of Sound Therapy, can be watched below.

The transcript of the webinar is available here. Thanks @Zug!

Clinical Perspectives on Sound Therapy: How to...

 

Sorry can't even force myself to watch more rubbish info from ATA.

40+ years later they are still recycling the same crap!

Waste of space they are!

 

The second video is the usual sound enrichment crap but I found parts of the first video interesting.
Especially the person talking from around 30:00 to 45:00, he seems to be quite well informed.

 

So I had a review of the video material. The recently published webinar (dated 21 March 2016) on pharmacology was - I thought - well presented and informative. Pharmacology in relation to tinnitus is of course very interesting as the discipline attempts to treat tinnitus rather than apply a "learn to live with it" methodology using masking (or nothing at all).

Dr. James Kaltenbach introduced the standard mechanism by which tinnitus suppression can be targeted (synaptic and ion channel level) - this can be seen at 37:03. I was, however, slightly puzzled when he mentioned on a couple of occasions that AUT3 is still pending clinical trial (see 40:30, 43:26, and 44:08). I assume that he is pointing to the QUIET-1 study of Autifony Therapeutics here. And I should think that it is well known by now that the human trial is terminated. So why he mentions this trial, I do not know. Perhaps it is because of the potential of the compound rather than anything else. Anyway, if someone wants to follow-up with Dr. Kaltenbach on that, that can be your pet project for the Easter Break (and will bring information back to the forum here).

Dr. Kaltenbach also mentions several other compounds of interest. For instance, Taurine (found in the energy drink, Red Bull) is known from studies to have an effect on the suppression of symptoms of tinnitus. Attached is one such animal study. As it happens, I did discuss a case study with my primary research contact - and it involved a physician who had suffered from tinnitus. If I recall correctly, the individual had taken 20g of Taurine per day (for "some period of time") and had attained a permanent reduction of his tinnitus. I do not wish to endorse the use of Taurine - I only mention the compound because the video included it on the list. Indeed, I am slightly worried that Amazon.com will soon be out of Taurine powder with this posted message - just like TinnitusTalk probably managed to collectively empty one or two online stores for CBD oil after TT-member @Drecul wrote about his experience here:

www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/already-6-hours-tinnitus-free-with-cbd-oil.11281

Indeed that became the fastest ever trending thread on the entire forum (reaching 5000 views in a matter of days if not hours...). At this point in time, it has almost 20k views: several online store owners are no doubt rich at this point (but unfortunately for the wrong reasons). A classic example of mob mentality mixed with wishful thinking, desperation, and lack of critical reasoning.

Last but not least, I am slightly surprised that the video by the ATA has only reached some 200 views at this point. No doubt, most of views were picked-up prior to the release on youtube and are therefore not counted. Still it is a shame that it is not watched more: the fault lies both with the ATA for not marketing it better but also on the part of the tinnitus community for not doing a better job of practicing self-responsibility and informing itself on the things that matter and instead spend their lives debating matters such as:

• is LLLT a scam? (for the 200th time).
• A dog barked next to me - should I be worried?
• when will there be a cure? (also for the 200th time).

Attached is also a 2nd article that I included (as it was co-authored by Dr. Kaltenbach) - Ringing Ears: The Neuroscience of Tinnitus.

 

Thanks. Much appreciated - not that you had to do it. Consider requesting a fee for the information you provide to the board (you would be rich given all the information that is made available and cannot easily be found elsewhere).

Here is the standard image that comes to my mind when a "call to action" is made on a tinnitus forum:

 

The interview with Dr James Kaltenbach was interesting. Thanks for posting.
There are some upcoming ATA talks that I'm interested in viewing.

RIP Amazon stockpile of Taurine. But seriously what's the mechanism of action for it working on tinnitus? And he took 20 grams a day! That's a lot.

I saw on one of Dr. Kaltenbach's slides that sildenafil was mentioned as awaiting human trials for tinnitus... isn't that just Viagra?

 

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/taurine-and-tinnitus.4466/#post-6753

 

I took a lot of Taurine when tinnitus first hit me. If you read the research, the group with low Taurine intake didn't improve, so I calculated the dose of the "success" group for my weight and took it. I don't remember the exact dosage, but I think it was along these lines. I bought in powder form, diluted in water and drank in different times of the day to improve absorption.

Can't really say it helped, but again, everything is so F*'d up when we get tinnitus that it's difficult to say it didn't help either. Maybe I should try again . I can't really recommend since there are no "safe" levels of Taurine for human consumption, or even much agreement if it works in anything at all.

 

Yeah. They were posted on the Hyperacusis Network too and I think Dan Malcore (who is admin over there) mentioned something about them only being up on YouTube for a limited time.

 

ATA Webinar PowerPoints and script...

 

I find it a little weird that as a Nonprofit they want to put such a video beyond a Paywall. One would think that a NonProfit would like to put the word out there about an important topic as Pharmacology. I personally have helped fundraising efforts in my country without the need to behave like a pornsite and charge members for content. I think I'll voice my concern while I'm still a member

 

American Tinnitus Association's upcoming webinar will be focusing on hyperacusis.

The webinar will take place on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at 8 PM Eastern, 7 PM Central, 6 PM Mountain, 5 PM Pacific (Arizona).

Join ATA Board Member and President of Hyperacusis Research Bryan Pollard (pictured right), and former ATA Scientific Advisory Committee Chair Richard Salvi, Ph.D., (pictured left) from the University of Buffalo to learn more about hyperacusis and how it relates to tinnitus.



Registration is $25 for the public for a one-hour program that will educate you on hyperacusis, a sensitivity to normal everyday sounds that can sometimes cause physical pain. Because of the number of people with tinnitus who also have hyperacusis, ATA recently incorporated hyperacusis into its mission. Join us to learn more about hyperacusis and the impact it can have on a person's life.

If you are an ATA member, all webinars are included as part of your ATA member benefits and you can log-in to your User Account and register for free. Once you are logged in click on the blue "Register for ATA Webinars" menu on the far right hand side of your screen. For mobile device users the blue registration button is located by scrolling down toward the bottom of your screen.

Read more & register: http://ata.org/news/news/register-atas-webinar-hyperacusis

 

Lots of great information in the ATA Summer 2018 Tinnitus Today magazine.