US$100 Million to Solve a Hard Problem

Hey guys, the MacArthur Foundation will give US$ 100 million to a worthy cause. Anyone want to try to cure tinnitus?

Seriously, people who know academics, companies etc, it may be worth a shot:

http://bloom.bg/1Uw9pef

 

Hmmm very intersting, register on the foundation web site by Sept. 2 and submit a proposal by Oct. 3. This is quite doable. This could be enough to start a stem cell lab focused on the inner ear and auditory pathways...

 

There are much more serious conditions without cures or treatments. Tinnitus or hearing loss stand no chance.

The money probably doesn't go for health issue but for something like SpaceX.

 

Tinnitus likely not, but hearing loss seems "noble" enough.

Either way, I registered my LLC with the foundation. I'm afraid I'll be quite busy with stuff until August, but anyone up to seriously help write a proposal? @Cityjohn, @Markku, @Steve, @attheedgeofscience, @Silvio Sabo?

 

They will not care about this since they keep saying

"No hun. Tinnitus is not going to kill you". Oh yes, it is. See what will happen when I jump off a bridge because of this sound. S*ckers.

But, you know this is a cruel world. We are more than 360M people and by 2025 they estimated that we will be more than 900M people have hearing loss or T. So, this is a big business and whoever finds a cure will get million dollars. So, we still have a chance.

 

IMO, this should be to cure hearing loss. Most tinnitus comes from hearing loss, so cure it on ALL levels (below 8khz and then above 8khz).

Kill two birds with one stone. Yes, not ALL tinnitus necessarily comes form hearing loss (or it hasn't been proven yet I guess). But, the majority does. Also, hearing loss is a serious enough issue that requires solving as well.

There are some non profit institutions who are actually attempting to cure hearing loss (so not a private company). If they were given this type of money, they could actually probably complete there research and get a cure out in 10 years.

PS: Whoever said hearing loss isn't "serious" enough of an issue to solve probably never experienced it. Deafness/hearing loss is an issue that needs to be solved. 40-60% (I believe) of veterans have this issue. The damn lead singer of ACDC had to stop singing because of it. Many people are effected by this.

There needs to be a biological cure for this. Hearing aids are not acceptable anymore for a solution to the problem. People can and will back this. Companies are trying to find a cure even (see the gene therapy trial out there). Seriously, if someone knows how to get this going, this could serious fix so many peoples lives.

 

You COULD be right. Should Hearing Health Foundation submit a proposal?

 

Perhaps we can try to organize with TRI and all other researchers around the world that are doing research into T and hearing loss. That's the only way I see this happening, a multidisciplinary research team focused on one task.

 

I wish we could make some noise. Sorry for the pun.

But unfortunately even the most members in the forum do not come to this thread. Can we tag whomever we can and raise some awareness and then deciding what can be done about this thing. I want a brain storm guys.

I do not want another sentence from an ENT "There will be not a cure for T and hearing loss. They are always saying a cure in 10 years"

Enough is enough. This is fucking 2016. For the sake of God, I'm writing this message from my Samsung. I do remember the times I used to play snake game on my Nokia. I wish I saved it for today to smash their brains who keep saying there will be no cure though.

We need to get this money. End of the story.

 

I'd love to help get us some attention, but I wouldn't even know where to begin.

 

I could help write a proposal but I don't think that we alone could qualify, as @Cityjohn says.

What would be the focus?

Our soon to be launched area of Join the Dots is almost a highlight of how far there is to go - we're interested in finding patterns across disciplines, fully understanding theories on hearing and cognition and things that may actually help that are already in existence. With us all being different it's likely there will be many "cures", crossing disciplines and available to many of us right now if we had the correct diagnosis tools and enough trained professionals. Treatments are tested alone, we don't see trials that assess the sub-type and give multiple treatments to tackle all of the underlying issues (co-morbidities).

Hmmm, is that paragraph the basis of a proposal I wonder? For this competition I imagine it needs to be stressed that it's the No 1 veterans complaint, we live in a noisy world getting noisier etc. The question is, will tinnitus be something that they recognise as important enough for such a large grant?

 

I suppose if we can prove the ridiculous growth of acoustic related incidence of hearing loss and the fact that all those 50 million people would later be willing to pay 2000,- on average, then 2 dollars per person doesn't seem so much anymore.
On the other hand the problem is that this is a tough problem, not one likely to yield results but I think that is what the grant is for.

 

No offense to those who want to research causes etc.. but a cure for hearing loss should be the focus IMO. It's known that is the main cause for MOST, not all, tinnitus. Also, nevermind the fact that hearing loss alone is a worthy cause to cure.

I really feel like hearing loss should be the focus.

I think sponsoring an organization or person who is actually focused on curing hearing loss would be good. Someone actually CURING it, not just researching causes or things.

 

I think we should mention both. I did not read any suicide news because of hearing loss but tinnitus is enough for one to kill him/herself if it is severe enough. Bu the way tinnitus is something that we do not need a permanent cure like took the drugs and you will be alright till you again blow your ears with loud music ir ear infection or ototoxic drugs.. Tinnitus, at least, needs to be something like diabet. As long as we take our drugs we will be alright(maybe like 1/10 or 0/10) This is also why we may chance to get this because there is a great amount of money in it like ine should take their drugs for life.

I do not know guys but we need this so much.

 

There is a theory that says that tinnitus can always be rooted to some kind of hearing loss, which means that curing hearing loss would put an end to tinnitus. This would also apply to your tinnitus.

Watch this 4 part Q&A session for more info (I think he talks about it either at the end of part 2, but all of it is quite interesting - he also explains why people think they don't have any hearing loss when their audiograms are "good", when in fact they can still have some hearing loss, just not visible on such audiograms).

 

Here's the specific part you are referencing:

Tinnitus Q & A 02/2016 Pt 2/4

 

This is great then. So does it mean the overhyped neurons in the brain is caused by hearing loss then? And it can becured with curing hearing loss. But some also says that tinnitus can also be caused from CN(like in my cause, benzo induced T). Will it curing hearing loss still be efficient for CNS Tinnitus?

 

T is a symptom, not a "issue" of its own. Just as pain is a symptom of say a cut.

You dont just treat the pain and let the cut just sit there. You treat the cut and the pain goes away once the cut is healed up.

Again, seeing hearing loss is the main issue with the MAJORITY of tinnitus cases, cure hearing loss and you cure that problem as well as the majority of cases for tinnitus.

Just because audiogram doesn't show it, you could have hearing loss in higher ranges.

A biological cure for hearing loss is the answer. Both for those who can't hear, as well as some of the symptoms of hearing loss.

I'm agreeing with those that are saying this in the thread and just wanted to reiterate what they are saying.

If someone on this site knows people researching this, I really think this kind of money could really help them solve this problem.

 

And if I need to stay on the topic

Will we do something for this as Tinnitus Talk? I do not know what to do though.

 

According to the hearing loss theory, when hearing is damaged, your brain will try to increase the gain to figure out why it can't hear where it normally could. This is may involve neuroplasticity that happens to be maladaptive in this case. If hearing can be restored, then the brain should be able to revert back to silence by decreasing the gain because it now has a live signal.

 

We can definitely help to facilitate something, the question is who would we link up with, who is on the right track? Tackling the loss of hair cells is a part of the puzzle, arguably the most important and challenging part.

There are people looking into it, like GenVec and the people involved with the Hearing Restoration Project with Hearing Health Foundation http://hearinghealthfoundation.org/hearing_restoration_project

 

I think we can start with making forum members aware of this thread to create a great discussion about the situation. This could be like an ad like the latest Neuromodulator you guys published the other day. We can call the members to the thread or we can start a new one. I believe we will have great ideas from other members. (I want to tag @Markku to this message)

 

Hey @Steve , I personally don't know anyone connected to Tinnitus research and organizations. I think we could at least make an effort to spread the word. Maybe TRI, ATA, Companies that are trying to develop treatments... I don't know if we should choose a specific track, maybe we could work towards spreading the news in the Tinnitus and hearing fields and encouraging organizations to give it a shot.

The foundation website says they're open to pretty much anything as long as it makes an impact.

https://www.macfound.org/press/pres...0-million-help-solve-critical-social-problem/

 

I would recommend focusing on contacting organizations actually seeking out a CURE. ATA appears only focused on therapy, I don't feel they are making much of an impact, although I could be wrong.

I feel those working towards a cure for hearing loss is what would make the biggest impact. And not organizations just focused on pumping out research that foes no where other than journals. One actually looking to bring stuff to clinic to cure hearing loss soon.

 

Yes that seems like the best way to do it.

They seem like the best candidates although $100m is a drop in the ocean for research, testing and bringing a product to market for hearing loss cure. I imagine that the impact would need to be far larger than being say 10% of the costs.

 

I think the Hearing Restoration Project would do well with this money. Currently they only give 30k per grant, and look at what they've already discovered. They have identified genes that can be reactivated to induce new hair cell growth.

 

Or even the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss would be a good fit as well for this money

 

Give it all to Prof. Thanos Tzounopoulos. I bet he'd fix us up in no time.

 

Thing is, yes he made some progress but so did others. I have found papers from 1954 mentioning tinnitus due to fast moving middle ear bones. Should we fund those guys as well. I've learned that you should not put your money on one horse only. Everyone was super hyped at HBOT, AM-101 all those hypes and not a clear path towards a cure.

 

He did much much better than anyone. Look at the user experiences of Trobalt. Almost everyone got some reduction in their Ts. But the most important point are in it that all of those people got their Ts from different causes and most of them are chronic cases.. HBOT or AM-101 both are for acute phases.