Participating in a Clinical Trial

Finding a cure for tinnitus is ATA’s mission and research is what’s going to get us there.

Over the last 10 years, scientists have made tremendous advances in figuring out what causes tinnitus and ways to treat it. And many of these advances have been made through human clinical trials.

Although we have not yet reached a tinnitus cure, there are many opportunities for tinnitus patients in the United States and throughout the world to participate in clinical trials that will help scientists advance the state of tinnitus research. As this is being written, there are currently 48 clinical trials for tinnitus going on in 23 states and in over ten countries! ATA maintains an up-to-date listing of these trials that are recruiting human subjects here: ATA.org/research/clinical-trials. You can also call your local university hospitals to find out in case the opportunity is not posted online.

The following is some basic information on clinical trials:

What is a clinical trial?

After researchers test new therapies or procedures in the lab and in animal studies, the treatments with the most promising results are moved into clinical trials. Clinical trials are generally considered to be research studies in human beings that follow a pre-defined protocol. These could include both interventional (where the research subjects are assigned by the investigator to a specific treatment or other intervention, and their outcomes are measured) and observational (where individuals are observed and their outcomes are measured by the investigators).

Why participate in a clinical trial?

Individuals who participate in clinical trials play a more active role in their own health care. They also can gain access to new research treatments before they become widely available. And the bigger picture is that these participants are helping others by contributing to medical research.

Who can participate in a clinical trial?

All clinical trials have guidelines about who can participate and before joining a clinical trial, a participant must qualify for the study. Criteria may be based on factors such as gender, age and other existing medical conditions. Keep in mind that, because of the need for the best results, there is often strict inclusion criteria for these trials – so you may or may not be eligible for every tinnitus study just because you have tinnitus.

Source: Clinicaltrials.gov

Good Resources

• Visit ClinicalTrials.gov for more detailed information on frequently asked questions in regard to this subject.
• Check out the Tinnitus Data Archive, Tinnitusarchive.org, for statistical summaries of tinnitus patients.
• In addition, PubMed, Pubmed.org, is a great public resource for easily searching a library of medical studies. Search the site using relevant keywords such as “clinical trials and tinnitus.”