Hough Ear Institute's Hair Cell Regeneration Project

There is no way to diagnose cochlear synaptopathy.

 

You're correct but we can know it's been damaged if you have difficulty distinguishing words in noise among other things.

 

Distortion, hyperacusis and other auditory processing issues likely stem from cochlear synaptopathy.

 

Do we know if tinnitus can get triggered from synaptopathy or are there likely hair cell damage too? Maybe if there’s some hearings loss at certain frequencies there's likely also (or just?) hair cell damage?

 

I think it is safe to assume that most people with tinnitus have a few issues wrong and fixing one issue can provide at least partial relief. So even if you have significant hair cell loss plus synapse damage, fixing one issue could provide a decent amount of relief. In some people, even fixing one of the broken inputs may be enough to satisfy the brain.

 

It is so discouraging to read "come back in 10 years and we might have something."

 

Where did you see that?

 

To my knowledge Hough Ear Institute currently says that they will be able to get their pill to the market in under ten years. Even if it takes them ten years to release it for us, I will be satisfied assuming that their medication works.

 

Their website actually claims 3-5 years...

 

Above it says they hope to start the clinical trial in 2023.

So that means best case is they start the clinical trial in December 2023. The trial will take years, then it will take more years to get anything to market.

= 10 years away.

 

Who cares. It’s for acute cases anyway.

 

I don't think that there has been any suggestion that this could take 10 years even from Hough Ear Institute themselves...

 

Is there anyone here who lives in Oklahoma? They could drop around and take a look. I did a web search and it seems that it's like a regular ENT practice and I read some of the reviews. At times it strikes me like a mom & pop enterprise. The teasing thing is, who knows? They might actually have the magic mixture.

 

Sorry, but that's not how that works, you can't just "pop around and take a look". It's not a big institution but it's no mom & pop either, it's a research non-profit, looking to go through trials.

 

There is more to that organisation than just solely being an ENT practice. I'm pretty sure that there is a whole research arm too that works independently to the actual ENT Practice, much like what happens here already with a number of firms which treat patients and also actually engage in medical research.

 

If I recall correctly, someone here already has had the ENT there as their own doctor. I don't remember who that was though.

 

Hough Ear Institute seemed to get a lot of hate on this thread. But they did win a grant from the Department of Defense among 73 other competitors. So they’re either really good at grant writing or they have some solid science behind the pill.

Keep the faith.

 

Why doesn't Tesla support this institute if Elon Musk is interested in treating tinnitus? It is my understanding that money is the obstacle to research.

 

I think it's because they don't manage their optics very well in terms of straddling soliciting donations and commercializing a product — it seems like they want to be a non-profit and a commercial venture at the same time which for many is an immediate red flag. I don't think anyone is calling them a scam but it doesn't pass a smell test.

I'm not saying they are fraudulent, but that dubiousness combined with their PR guy selectively answering questions on here rubbed people the wrong way.

 

Tesla is an electric car, battery, and solar manufacturer. Why would a company that makes the above invest in a hearing solution?

Their CEO, Elon Musk also founded Neuralink which is a tech that he claims may one day address tinnitus.

Why would either be incentivized to invest in this non-profit?

 

Elon Musk's wife suffers from hearing loss and tinnitus.

 

There are three things that I think Hough Ear Institute have handled quite negatively and poorly with their dissemination of information relating to their medicines.

1. Avoiding answering questions on why they have proceeded with completing the proof of concept study work for their pill when they need to obtain more money in order to complete the post study verification of the work.

2. Avoiding explaining who is going to be the ultimate beneficiaries from the sales of any successful medicines.

3. Not answering matters on why they need to solicit donations to proceed with work and what such money will get used for.

No matter how good an idea is, it won't get the support it needs from other sources if they cannot communicate clearly, informatively and transparently with those that are being asked to help.

Have a look at situations with other companies such as Bouqs Flowers or Echo Valley Meats from the Shark Tank. Both entities pitched their products to the investor group and were turned down because they were not satisfied with the way the product had been demonstrated to them nor with the reasons given to them by the organisations' representatives as to why they should invest.

It could be that Hough Ear Institute has a great product which turns out to be wonderful, however if they do not put things forward appropriately and do not adequately engage in open communication they are not likely to garner the support they require and/or desire too.

Thus Hough Ear Institute might be really good at writing grants or they might simply be very poor at communicating with and addressing the questions that are put to them by potential donors such as members of the public.

Either way there still seems to be legitimate concerns held by people about what they are doing and their way of going about doing it which has led to some individual's apathy towards the organisation.

 

Yes, so why invest in this company when he has direct influence in the development of tech that he helped found. Doesn't make any sense.

 

A Note From Our CEO, Dr. Richard Kopke

Here’s some updates on what they’ve done so far. It will be interesting to see the results of their proof of concept study.

 

This is great to know. However, there is little information still forthcoming about the business side of the operation, such as whether they still require funding for things that they claim to require like validating the proof of concept study.

 

What and when is the next milestone for Hough Ear Institute?

 

I’ve read somewhere them saying the earliest they expect to hit the market is 2027.

 

They did. Though this has then been clarified by them as being a conservative estimate, in order to not understate when they are going to be able to complete it by.

 

They are at such an early stage that I think estimating a time to market is pure guessing. We have seen recently with Frequency Therapeutics and Otonomy how easily clinical trials can fail therefore delaying their timeline by years.

 

Their timeline tends to be consistent with the standard time taken to take a medicine through the procedures to get it out to market.

They have done Phase 1 already and the proof of concept work is what is required to get the treatment to a point where it can get trialled for effectiveness when taken.

That being said, I do agree with you that there might be factors which alter its progression.