Strategies and accomplishments of the Tinnitus Research Consortium

The Tinnitus Research Consortium (TRC) is sponsored by a philanthropist who wants to accelerate progress in basic and clinical research on tinnitus. The TRC consists of 12 distinguished auditory scientists who began meeting in 1998 twice a year for brainstorming for new research approaches to tinnitus, developing requests for applications, judging the scientific merit of the applications received and reviewing the progress of funded projects. Through these efforts, common confounding variables in tinnitus research have been identified, and solutions to these problems have been suggested. TRC grants have been made up to $100,000.00 per year for three years. The sponsor had provided $600,000.00 per year; so two new grants could be made each year. The good news is that the sponsor's support has been increased by 50% for 2011 so that three grants have been awarded. Some of the landmark studies supported by the TRC over the last 14 years are reviewed as is the changing conceptualization of the pathogenesis of tinnitus and its management. The effect of strategies of the TRC on the applicants, grantees, scientific field, scientific societies and other funding agencies will be discussed. For example, when the TRC was initiated, sessions devoted to tinnitus research at national scientific meetings were rare. Through the efforts of the TRC, the American Tinnitus Association and the American Academy of Audiology, organizations such as the Association for Research in Otolaryngology and the Society for Neuroscience were encouraged to hold special sessions on tinnitus research. Now such organizations have well attended sessions on tinnitus research each year. The size of the TRC grants, large enough to support a substantial research project, has caused several other voluntary agencies to increase the size of their grants toward the TRC standard. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and other institutes at the National Institutes of Health have devoted far more emphasis on tinnitus. By supporting sound research on tinnitus and recruiting world-class scientists to the field, the TRC has led in making tinnitus research respectable.