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Embargoed until 00.01 Wednesday 4 February 2015
Funding from charity for new treatments to silence tinnitus
Today, to mark Tinnitus Awareness Week (2 – 8 February), UK charity Action on Hearing
Loss (formerly RNID) announces a major investment to fund a new study at Newcastle
University, which aims to accelerate the development of future tinnitus treatments.
Six million people in the UK are affected by tinnitus every day – ranging from a light buzzing
to a constant roar in the ears and head – with 600,000 seriously affected by the condition,
which can have a detrimental effect on quality of life including bouts of anxiety, difficulties
socialising and problems sleeping or being able to concentrate at work.
The three year, £300,000 project will be led by Dr Mark Cunningham at Newcastle
University and will involve researchers at Leicester University and the biotechnology
company Autifony Therapeutics Ltd, who are currently conducting a clinical trial of a drug for
tinnitus.
The pioneering research aims to bridge the gap between promising laboratory research
discoveries and testing new medicines in tinnitus patients.
Lead researcher, Dr Mark Cunningham said:
“The focus of this project is to see if we can use electrical waves in one of the hearing
centres of the brain to measure tinnitus both to discover if the therapy developed by Autifony
is working and how it is having its effect. The use of an animal model of tinnitus will allow us to
investigate brain wave activity in the hearing centres and develop a biological measure which
can be used on patients in the clinic as well as future research.”
Dr Ralph Holme, Head of Biomedical Research at charity Action on Hearing Loss, said:
“Tinnitus is a debilitating condition for which there is no cure, but real progress is being made
towards understanding the mechanisms behind the condition, giving us hope that effective
treatments can be found. Currently the search for new treatments is being slowed down
because it is very hard to know if the effects of potential new treatments seen in animal
studies are relevant to tinnitus in humans. Our new project has the potential to overcome this
barrier, speeding up the development of urgently needed treatments.”
Action on Hearing Loss runs the world’s largest donor-supported hearing research
programme, dedicated to funding research into better treatments and cures for hearing loss
and tinnitus.
ENDS/
Contact for general media enquiries:
Gorki Duhra, Senior PR Officer, telephone: 020 7296 8057, out of hours: 07944 038 635 or
email: [email protected]. Follow Action on Hearing Loss on Twitter
@hearinglosspr
ENDS
Notes to Editors

Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID) Is the charity working for a world where
hearing loss doesn't limit or label people, where tinnitus is silenced – and where
people value and look after their hearing. Our vision is to find a cure for hearing loss
and tinnitus. For more information about Action on Hearing Loss’s Biomedical
Research programme, go to www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/biomedicalresearch

Tinnitus is a medical term to describe noise(s) that people can hear in one ear, both
ears or in the head – such as ringing, buzzing or whistling. The sounds heard can
vary from person to person, but the common link is that they do not have an external
source.

Listen to the Action on Hearing Loss tinnitus simulation (mp3 file) to discover how
some people experience tinnitus via this link – under the section - What does tinnitus
sound like? http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/loud-music/tinnitus-or-ringing-inears.aspx - The sound file can be sent upon request as an MP3 File.

Hearing loss research is woefully underfunded, compared to the scale of the issue,
which affects one in six people in the UK. In 2007, hearing loss research received
less than a tenth of the funding per person affected (£1.34 per person) compared to
sight loss (£14.21 per person affected) and a fraction of funding for research into
other conditions such as diabetes, and heart disease.

Hearing loss, if undiagnosed or mismanaged, can lead to isolation, depression and
reduce employment opportunities. Investment in research has the potential to not
only improve the quality of life for millions of people across the UK, but save the
economy millions of pounds.

Newcastle University is a Russell Group University, Ranked in the top 1% of
universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2014), Ranked 22nd in The
Sunday Times 2015 Good University Guide. http://www.ncl.ac.uk/

Amongst our peers Newcastle is: Joint 6th in the UK for student satisfaction o
Ranked 8th in the UK for Medical research power o Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) top 20 strategic partner • 93.7% of our
students are in a job or further training within six months of graduating • We have a
world-class reputation for research excellence and are spearheading three major
societal challenges that have a significant impact on global society. These themes
are: Ageing, Sustainability, and Social Renewal.

Newcastle University is the first UK university to establish a fully owned international
branch campus for medicine at its NUMed Campus in Malaysia which opened in
2011 Our international students put Newcastle University in the world's top 50 (ISB
2013) of global universities. Newcastle University Business School is one of 20 Triple
Accredited Business Schools in the UK.