The Bionics Institute Claim They Have Found a Way of Objectively Measuring Tinnitus

How did it go? Is there a video available?

 

I think it went well.

I don't know about a video per say. Channel 7 News are going to televise it. I'll let you know if I get my hands on the footage.

 

Sound relief hope for Australian tinnitus...

 

"Hey man, how can we start a video about a condition that you hear piercing high pitched noises in the ears?

"How about BLAST 'EM with piercing HIGH PITCHED noises?"

"Ah, great idea!"

 

I saw this on the news last night. There should have absolutely been a warning.

 

Yeah for sure. They use all kinds of piercing noises in all kinds of news, tv shows, etc and it sucks big time. Luckily for me, I don't have any real problem with these, like hyperacusis or reactive tinnitus, but a lot of people that are interested about the content have... I also get into panic mode thinking it's my tinnitus doing it. F*ckin sine waves.

 

So as well as the Bionics Institute, it seems we have two further institutions working on objective measures.

1) This is partly funded by the British Tinnitus Association: a three-year research project – led by Prof. David McAlpine of Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia, with a team including Dr. Roland Schaette of the Ear Institute, University College London – will use artificial intelligence (AI) to determine whether a person has tinnitus – or not – through examining recordings of their brain waves: → Development of a Reliable Objective Measure of Tinnitus

2) There is also Freemasons funded research at Newcastle University: → Brain imaging study will help develop objective test for tinnitus

 

I live in Sydney and will mention this to the ENT when I see him in early December. I would love to get tested if it were possible.

 

I'm sure they are recruiting.

 

Belgian researchers are also working on this.

 

Contact Mehrnaz Shoushtarian at the Bionics Institute regarding recruitment.

 

More positive news from the Bionics Institute:

Nanotechnology drug delivery system to treat...

 

Not the first time we hear about a novel drug delivery method.

Why still all the leading companies in clinical trials (Frequency Therapeutics, Otonomy, Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Sound Pharmaceuticals) use a standard injection, with some of them even claiming drug delivery is a problem.

 

With an objective tinnitus measurement protocol in place first, and then subsequent development of treatments and systems like the one above, the Bionics Institute certainly seem to be thinking like engineers and doing things in the right order. Kudos to them.

 

They need to bang their heads together and collaborate. Money can still change hands and more biotechs can get their products to market.

 

I spoke to Dr. Shoushtarian today and she seemed very nice. I was actually surprised at how easy it was to contact her.

Unfortunately though, her project is only operating in Victoria at the moment, but if it ever comes to NSW I'll be very keen to get in.

 

I wonder how far away this is to being in clinics and research institutions...

 

Did you ever get any feedback?

 

I asked for my results but didn't get them. Not sure why because I'm sure @DebInAustralia got hers. Couldn't be bothered after that.

 

I'm flying down from Queensland in January to get my brain tested and help push the research ahead. Please, if you're Australian, make an effort to go to Melbourne and help with this trial. Normally it's unfortunate to live in Australia with all the research happening in the United States and Europe, so now's the time for us Aussies to shine.

→ The Bionics Institute: Participate in Tinnitus Research

 

This is very interesting to me, but I now have to wonder how damaged could my ears possibly get on a flight from Sydney to Melbourne? Will earmuffs be enough to protect from the loud volume? Will that ear pressure pain on take off and landing damage my ears?

 

It comes down to your decision in the end. But no harm in doing the explorator work -- it could very well happen that in a few years time that you have to travel long distance anyway, perhaps out of medical grounds.

You might examine the flight in question and find out:

• What is the maximum altitude on the flight path.
• What is the make of airplane (usually Airbus or Boeing) and what is the decibel level.
• How much is a seat up front, away from the engines and hence quieter than at/behind the wings.
• Would things such a combination of earplugs and earmuffs be helpful.
• The length of the flight.

They don't seem to do trains in Australia?

Whatever else, the science behind the Bionics Institute's objective tinnitus measurement has me very excited. It raises the question about human "consciousness", like who is conscious of the ringing of tinnitus, and what does habituation mean then? You're conscious of it but you can dismiss it, or it doesn't bother you so much. What is consciousness for that matter.

The science is proposing brand new questions, and that can only be good.

 

I'm just flying down, not worrying about the noise. I guess I'm in the fortunate majority of tinnitus sufferers, where life goes on in terms of noise (considering 10% of the population has tinnitus). Still careful around really loud noises though.

 

It was great to be a participant in this experiment. Now the Bionics Institute has a little bit more data that can help them on their quest to measure tinnitus.

 

Absolutely brilliant, mate! Well done

 

@Dam, brilliant, thank you very much. Be keen to hear a review of your visit.

 

I'll email Michelle to see if I can fully explain the test here. I just want to be respectful if they want to be discreet about the trial.

 

The test was very straightforward and easy. Here's a link to the Pilot study, this can explain it a lot better than I can.

It basically consisted of 3 separate tests.

1. A six-minute recording where you just relax as much as you can.
   
2. A short break.
3. Another recording where you have earphones in and listen to audio every so often. It alternates between audio and a cool weird black and white circular flashing thing on the screen. The third test is pretty much the exact same as the second one.

It takes like 20-30 minutes, no problem whatsoever. I did do a hearing test before the test.



Weird that my hearing gets better at the higher ranges (22 years old).

 

This is the first piece of the puzzle. Even Prof. De Ridder said last year "we must have a signature of tinnitus that tells us it's present, and should be a 5/6/7 etc."

There's at least 4 institutions working on one so that's good news.

 

I fail to understand how objectively measuring tinnitus has anything to do w/ helping people w/ this problem. It's like saying you know the road you have to walk on has now been objectively measured, and it's exactly 10 miles long. That doesn't help you on your long walk at all.