Strategies of the Tinnitus Research Consortium

Conclusions: Research supported by private philanthropy complements governmental support of research, and its organization can undertake analysis of the whole field, identify the initial steps required to advance the field, draw attention to the intellectual challenge of a field such as tinnitus, recruit scientists to a neglected area, direct support to the most promising research approaches and opportunities, and dedicate support to those endeavors. Objectives: The efforts of the Tinnitus Research Consortium (TRC) are to accelerate progress in basic and clinical research on tinnitus. Methods: The TRC analyzes the field of tinnitus research, brainstorms for new research approaches to tinnitus and provides guidance to the scientific community through requests for applications (RFAs) on promising research approaches and opportunities. The analysis of the research field has focused on the validity of animal models of tinnitus, the need for a standardized outcome measure in clinical trials, and the control of...