Tinnitus Research Taking Place in Dallas

Hi Everyone!

My name is Sandra, and I work in a research lab at UT Dallas. We are currently studying tinnitus and are trying to search for what is the cause for the disorder. We have a great team working on this and I hope we reach an answer soon. We really need more research participants in order for our study to be even better and have a higher chance of success. If you live in the Dallas area, are between the ages of 18 and 40, have persistent tinnitus, and have no hearing loss then please reach out to me to become a participant. Participants will also receive a free audiogram and $40 compensation. Thanks for reading!

-Sandra

 

Im Glad there is Studies and research on people with tinnitus with "no hearing loss"
wish i was in dallas so i could help

 

Can I fly in from Denver? I don't mind!

 

Honestly, if you can find a cure or at least a treatment your team would be millionaires.

 

*No measurable hearing loss,lots of people here acquired their condition and also worsened said condition from noise exposure with zero hearing loss being detected.The key word here is detected,just because you can't find it doesn't mean the damage isn't there,just something to take into account during your study.My condition has been worsened 3 times now and my hearing according to audiologists is perfect but I myself know it's anything but that.

Not being a know it all smart ass just so your aware,I'm positive your at least 10 times more intelligent than me but it's something that's always overlooked and neglected.Thank you for all you do.

 

Please tell us more about the study. Who is the PI? Vagus nerve stimulation or something else? clinicaltrials.gov entry?

 

Best of luck with the study. Anyone finding a cure or treatment will become wealthy overnight. I have tinnitus with no detected hearing loss. If only the study was closer, I'd be happy to participate without compensation.

 

@Sandra Jacobson . Hi. Good luck with your research Sandra.

 

This thread also took my attention....
To know more....Maybe here (?)

http://www.utdallas.edu/ctech/projects-overview/vagus-nerve-stimulation-for-tinnitus/

 

There has already been research into the cause of tinnitus, by neuroscientists.
It is caused by some damage along the auditory pathway, which results in some lack of auditory input to the brain. This in turn supposedly leads to a thalamocortical dysrhythmia between the thalamus and the audiotry cortex. It can be brought on by stress or a noise insult.
Contact Prof. Llinas at NYU Neuroscience, and he will shed some light for you. Dont do things from scratch, unless you have a genius neuroscientist working on this project....

 

That's a prevalent theory, a likely cause, but I'm not sure tinnitus is so well defined as to call it empirical.

What I would really like to see in addition to the etiology of tinnitus, is a more in depth look into the different types of tinnitus. We all know there can be pulsatile tinnitus and 'tonal' tinnitus, but any tinnitus sufferer can tell you there many other types in between. For instance, why do some people perceive tinnitus as more of a head buzzing, and others perceive it more in their ears? I have had both, so have others on this forum, and the 'head' tinnitus is a very different feeling from the 'ear' tinnitus.
Also, why do some tinnitus patients experience residual inhibition while others do not?

 

Why can I only find VNS study in UT Dallas? A compensation of $40 hardly matches a lengthy VNS study. The clinical trials government website says the VNS study isn't even actively recruiting.

On top of that I tried looking up "Sandra Jacobson" at UT Dallas faculty listing and wasn't able to find one.

I hope this isn't a scam!!!!! more info required please

 

I appreciate your feedback and I will bring up this point in our lab meeting!

 

I apologize for being vague! I am not used to posting to online forums and I forget that without more information it is easy to be skeptical.

Our lab is a part of UT Dallas and is called the "Lab for Clinical and Integrative Neuroscience". The principle investigator is Dr. Sven Vanneste. The IRB number for the study is #15-06.

 

I'm not sure what the VNS study is, but that is not affiliated with this study. I apologize for being vague at first; this is my first time posting in such a forum. Here is some more technical information about our study: Our lab is a part of UT Dallas and is called the "Lab for Clinical and Integrative Neuroscience". The principle investigator is Dr. Sven Vanneste. The IRB number for the study is #15-06.

Additionally, I am not faculty at UT Dallas. I am an undergraduate student helping out in a research lab.

Thank you!

 

Thank you for your interest! If you would like to fly in, we would love to have you participate! However, it is important to keep in mind that the only compensation we can give participants is $40. Let me know if you are still interested.

Sandra

 

Thank you!

 

Thank you for your interest! Maybe there are other studies related to tinnitus happening in your area. If you are interested, you should check out the local universities and their Neuroscience labs and ResearchMatch.com.

 

Why the hard requirement to meet someone in person? If it's just to do an audiogram, I'm sure many of us have recent audiograms available for your perusal. For the interview part of the meeting, a Skype call may be appropriate enough.

I'd help you if you could accommodate it this way (I don't care about the $40). I'm pretty sure you'd have a much bigger data set too.

 

@Sandra Jacobson I agree with GregCA's post. I have a recent audiograms that I would be happy to share with you from my local hospital and other ENT offices. In addition, I'd be happy to interview via Skype. I also insist that the $40.00 be re-invested in your research. You will find most tinnitus suffers aren't going to care about the compensation; we do care about research and progress to find a viable cure or treatment.

 

@GregCA and @Ears Hurt

You are making an assumption that there is no reason to be present other than to do an audiogram. It's hard to know what is required since @Sandra Jacobson hasn't provided any details, but I am assuming there is more to it than that. Since Vanneste is involved, I am guessing that may be some imaging. It's really hard to imagine what could be learned at this point from a single survey/discussion and an audiogram.

Moreover, for research purposes, the fact that we all have recent audiograms isn't really helpful. They would (should) need for them to be taken on the same equipment, by the same examiner, in the same booth, etc. Most people who have had multiple audiograms at different places can attest that there are differences in sound booths, examiners, etc.

It would be helpful if @Sandra Jacobson would explain more about the study.

 

Actually, no, that is incorrect. Audiograms are (supposed to be) performed on machines that are all calibrated regularly, specifically to avoid the problem you mention. Hopefully your audiologist follows these requirements. Even within the same health provider, you may use different machines & staff actually (I know I have seen at least 4 or 5 different audiologist/hardware combinations within the same medical offices).

What does exist however is a statistical uncertainty around the "real value", and what I've been told by my neurotologist is that I can expect a plus/minus 5 dB uncertainty. For example, if you take 2 audiograms one after the other in the same location with the same staff, etc, you would possibly end up with audiograms that are slightly different (but very close).

 

I understand and appreciate everything you say. However the reality is that things aren't always done the way they are "supposed to be" in the real world. Someone doing a research study will want to control as many variables as much as possible - if the audiogram is relevant for the study and not an enticement to increase participation.

 

Agreed - there is value in using the same equipment for a given study, if you need to use it repeatedly as part of the study itself, but if it's just a gating factor to be admitted to the study (ie. "participants need to have x dB loss in the ranges x,y,z") then it seems any recent audiogram could work.

As you said, we won't know until we get more details, which is why I asked her the questions about the hard requirement. I'm not making an assumption, I'm asking a question.

 

Sometimes it's faster to do your own research than to ask for it...

Here is the link to the website of the corresponding study department of UT Dallas conducting the research:

http://www.utdallas.edu/~sxv140030/

(Multiple tinnitus research trails are under the projects page... and yes... a f-mri scan is probably part of the trial)

 

Seems like interesting work. I hope they get volunteers.
The page is at http://www.utdallas.edu/~sxv140030/projects.html

 

Sent you a PM Sandra

 

Dear Bill,

Yes, you are correct about the "no hearing loss detected" part. There is a lot of research that talks about hidden hearing loss and sensory loss higher up in the auditory pathways even when it is not detected by the audiogram. However in order to clearly test our hypothesis it is important to restrict our age range and hearing loss criteria in the aim of handling confounding variables.

I appreciate your suggestion. Thank you.

 

Thanks for posting, @Sandra Jacobson. While I can't participate, I keep hoping that UT Dallas will find something for those of us who have chronic tinnitus. I missed out on an AM-101 study that was right here in my backyard, at University of Miami, because I was more than three months from onset. I also applied for a brain stimulation study (it might have been at UT) but did not qualify because I have a metal aneurysm clip.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

@Sandra Jacobson
May I ask what exactly your labs hypothesis is?