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ATA Electronic Newsletter
October 2011 – Volume 1,
Issue 3
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A Message From the
Editor
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Dear Friends,
When putting together this issue of the ATA Electronic Newsletter, it
occurred to me that this is the last in the newsletter’s
inaugural year. We created it to supplement Tinnitus Today,
so that we can communicate with our members more often throughout the
year. We hope that you have been enjoying this new membership benefit
and look forward to continue receiving it in 2012.
As we celebrate the last three months of ATA’s 40th Anniversary,
I reflect back on some of the 2011 successes that have contributed to
the future history of this great organization. One of those things was
the expansion of our annual Jack
Vernon Walk to Silence Tinnitus to
include a satellite walk in Arizona. This event will continue into its
second year thanks to a group of committed volunteers that include
tinnitus health professionals and patients in the Phoenix metro area.
Another new fundraising event is the Tour de Tinnitus,
spearheaded by ATA member Mark Church who rode his bike across the
state of Missouri to raise money and awareness about tinnitus.
In addition, there were many advancements in the field of tinnitus
research and treatment in 2011. Two international conferences were held
this year for researchers to present their latest findings to their
peers: the 10th International Tinnitus Seminar (ITS) held in March of
2011 in Florianopolis, Brazil and the 5th Tinnitus Research Initiative
(TRI) Conference, held in Grand Island, NY in August. You can read more
about ITS on ATA’s
website and more about the TRI conference later in this newsletter
and in the December issue of Tinnitus
Today.
With all the good, we also experienced some great losses in 2011. We
lost our co-founder, Jack. A. Vernon, Ph.D., in November 2010 and in
February of 2011, we lost his wife, another talented and brilliant
tinnitus researcher, Mary B. Meikle, Ph.D. No words can adequately
express the loss of these two giants. However, some of the people who
worked closely with them over the years penned some thoughts on Jack
and Mary,
which you can read anytime at ATA.org. We also lost former Oregon
Senator Mark O. Hatfield in August. Senator Hatfield helped
establish independent tinnitus research funding at the federal level
long before ATA had an advocacy program and was an honorary ATA Board
member for many years. Even though these individuals are no longer with
us, their contributions in the fight for a tinnitus cure will live on
forever.
With all the progress in the fight to cure tinnitus, it is more
important than ever that we continue the legacies of individuals like
Drs. Vernon and Meikle, Senator Hatfield and countless others who have
helped shape the current state of tinnitus research and treatment.
Let’s build upon the successes of 2011 and make 2012 a stand-out
year as we continue the fight to silence tinnitus for good. Thank you
from all of us at ATA for your continued generous support - you enable
us to continue our mission and reach out to others with tinnitus.
Kind Regards,
Jennifer Born
Editor, Tinnitus Today
jennifer@ata.org
Walk Season 2012
Gearing Up!
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The second annual AZ Walk to Silence
Tinnitus
will take place on Saturday, March 24, 2012 at beautiful DC Ranch in
Scottsdale, Arizona. If you live in Arizona, and would like to help the
committee who is organizing the Walk, please contact ATA Development
Director Wes Breazeale at wes@ata.org.
Stay tuned to ATA.org for additional details on this event and how you
can participate to help raise crucial funds for ATA’s research
grant program.
If you are interested in starting a new Walk, or other event in your
city, please contact Wes!
Holiday Shopping Can
Help Cure Tinnitus!
|
GoodShop.com
donates up to 30 percent of every purchase from more than 3,000 top
stores to your favorite cause - and provides over 100,000 money saving
coupons!
Find coupons and free shipping offers at your favorite stores and a
percentage of your purchase goes to ATA - at no cost to you!
Here's how it works:
• Go to Goodsearch.com/goodshop.aspx
• Enter “American Tinnitus
Association”
• Register for an account and simply follow
instructions in welcome email
• Take advantage of online discounts and coupons
• A percentage of your purchase will be donated
to ATA by the merchant
| Research in Action: ATA-Funded Research |
Research Supported by ATA Could Lead to New Treatments
ATA-funded researcher Shaowen Bao, Ph.D., and his team at the
University of California at Berkeley suggest
several new approaches to treatment,
including retraining the brain and new avenues for developing drugs to
suppress the tinnitus perception. “Our findings will
guide the kind of research to find drugs that enhance inhibition on
auditory cortical neurons,” Bao said. “There are a lot of
things we can do to change GABA functions, some of which could
potentially alleviate tinnitus with fewer side effects.”
Dr. Bao received $99,949 from ATA in 2008 for his project "Cortical
Plasticity in Tinnitus". Click
here to read a report from this
innovative study.
SAC
Members Anthony Cacace, Ph.D., and Jinsheng Zhang, Ph.D., Receive DoD
$1.5M Grant
 ATA
Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Chair Anthony Cacace,
Ph.D.,(pictured left) and participating member Jinsheng Zhang, Ph.D.,
(pictured right) have received a $1.5
million grant from
the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to study blast- and
concussion-induced tinnitus. Their project is designed to study
tinnitus and related traumatic brain injury (TBI) to the ear and brain
resulting from blast and concussion injuries. These
issues will be addressed in parallel animal and human models.
| Thoughts from the 5th Tinnitus Research
Initiative Conference |
On
August 19 - 21, 2011, the 5th Tinnitus Research Initiative (TRI)
Conference took place in Grand Island, NY. More than 200 participants
from 26 countries gathered to listen to the latest findings in the
field of tinnitus research with a focus on neuroscience. The
presentations during the conference demonstrated the impressive
progress in the understanding of tinnitus made in the last few years. A
better understanding of tinnitus has prompted new therapeutic options,
which have shown promise in pilot studies.
On the final night of the conference, conference organizer and tinnitus
investigator, Richard J. Salvi, Ph.D., presented three awards; one of
each for commitment, leadership and advocacy.
Leadership
Award:
Dr. Berthold Langguth and the Tinnitus
Research Initiative for their efforts funding research worldwide and
for promoting the TRI tinnitus conferences.
Commitment
Award:
Dr. James Snow and the Tinnitus Research Consortium for their long-
term efforts of funding
basic and clinical research related to tinnitus.
Advocacy Award:
Jennifer Born and ATA for their stellar efforts to promote research
funding at the national level through the Department of Defense,
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other organizations.
To see a slideshow of photos from the 5th Tinnitus Research Initiative
Conference, please visit ATA’s
website.
The Winter 2011 issue of Tinnitus
Today will include a full-length article on the TRI conference.
We are pleased to
announce that one additional research grant has been funded by the ATA
Board of Directors.
Researcher:
Jay Piccirillo, M.D., FACS, Washington University in St. Louis, School
of Medicine.
Project:
Exploration of Cortical Neural Network in Patients with Bothersome
Tinnitus.
Duration:
One-year grant; $12,900.
Roadmap to a Cure Paths:
A, B, C and D.
Scope:
Use functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) to study cortical attention
networks in patients with bothersome tinnitus and non-tinnitus controls
to understand the role of the attention, control and other cortical
networks in the development and maintenance of tinnitus.
To read about
all the research ATA has funded in 2011, please visit the
research section of ATA.org.
| Coming Soon to a Mailbox Near You - the
Winter 2011 issue of Tinnitus Today |
The Winter 2011 issue of Tinnitus
Today
will wrap up coverage of ATA’s 40th Anniversary as well as
include our Annual Report, which give a snapshot of ATA’s
finances, program area successes and tells you where your membership
contributions have been spent. In addition, we’ll feature a story
on Bradley Vite, a new ATA Board member who has fought tirelessly in
his home state of Indiana to enact noise ordinances that can be
replicated in other states. You’ll also hear about some brand new
public awareness campaigns that ATA will be launching in 2012 and all
of our regular features including our popular Q & A with special
guest health professional Dr. Michael J. A. Robb and your letters to
the Editor!
ATA is putting out a request for video testimonials from our
members. If you have the ability to digitally video record
yourself, consider submitting a video for possible use on our YouTube Channel and on ATA.org/stories.
Videos should be 1-3 minutes in length and should discuss things like:
• How you got your tinnitus;
• What it’s like living with tinnitus;
• What treatments you’ve tried and degree
of success;
• Why you support the American Tinnitus
Association;
• Or any other things that you think may be
helpful to others who are living with tinnitus.
ATA will review each submission and if your clip is selected you will
be contacted prior to it being posted. ATA reserves the right to edit
or reject all submissions that are deemed to be misleading or
inappropriate in any way.
Please email all submissions to editor@ata.org
with the subject line: Video
submission.
Other ATA
Video News
Have you visited ATA's YouTube channel
lately? We recently digitized a wealth of historic public service
announcements, news programs and television shows about tinnitus. Some
of the celebrities in them include William Shatner, David Letterman,
Jerry Stiller and Tony
Randall. Check them out to see a blast from the past!
Also, visit ATA.org/videos to
view ATA's collection of videos created and produced by ATA, our
dedicated members, partners and supporters.
When the
Ringing Won't Stop, Clear Your Mind
Allison Aubrey from NPR Radio reports
on a treatment for tinnitus
called Mindfulness Based-Stress Reduction being studied by Jennifer
Gans, Ph.D., at the University of California, San Francisco. Previous
studies that tested Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, also known as
MBSR, with arthritis patients and those living in chronic pain have
documented significant improvements in people's quality of life.
ReSound
Introduces a New Hearing Aid for Tinnitus Management
ReSound has introduced a new combination hearing instrument for
tinnitus patients to its product line. The Alera TS combines an
advanced hearing aid with a sound generator. The sound generator is
used to administer sounds that make the disturbing tinnitus noise less
noticeable, drawing attention away from it, a common approach in sound
therapy. "The Alera TS helps change the way you respond to tinnitus by
diverting your attention away from it," said Michael Piskosz, M.S.,
ReSound. "This kind of sound therapy when combined with informed
counseling is recognized as a highly effective way of managing
tinnitus." To learn more about the new device, visit: Gnresound.com/alera.
How Loud is
That Power Tool? New Power Tools Sound Rating Database
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a new power tools
database that lists the decibel ratings of common power tools from 18 manufacturers
and contains downloadable exposure files.
Link: Cdc.gov/niosh-sound-vibration
Sound
Pharmaceuticals Announces Clinical Trial Involving MP3 Players
The
company says
that in several preclinical studies, the oral drug SPI-005 was shown to
improve the function of auditory hair cells and reduce the permanent
auditory threshold shift induced by intense noise exposure. Currently
there are no FDA approved drugs for the prevention and treatment of
sensorineural hearing loss including noise-induced hearing loss.
** For all your
“Tinnitus in the News” information, visit ATA.org/news. **
| ATA Support Network Update |
Since June, three new support groups have
started and two new help network volunteers have joined our listing!
Thank you to the individuals who are lending their time to help other
tinnitus sufferers!
Daring Bhadais* - Johannesburg Tinnitus Support Group, (Johannesburg,
South Africa)
Melissa Theis, Au.D. - Dayton Tinnitus Support Group (Dayton, Ohio)
John Ogrizovich* - Dallas/Ft. Worth Tinnitus Support Group (Dallas/Ft.
Worth, TX)
Christina Rosolia - Help Network Volunteer (Naples, Florida)
*also a help network volunteer
To view ATA’s full Support Network listing, and obtain the
contact information for these groups and volunteers visit ATA.org/support.
If you are interested in becoming a support group leader or help
network volunteer, please contact Katie Fuller at katie@ata.org.
| New Resource for Young People with Tinnitus |
If you know a teenager or young adult with tinnitus, there is a new
Facebook group just for them: Music-Induced Tinnitus in Teens (MITT).
This page was started by aspiring tinnitus researcher, Gita
Bhattacharya, who was
highlighted in the last ATA
Electronic Newsletter.
Miss Bhattacharya has tinnitus and is trying to raise awareness about
this problem as well as reach out to her peers who also have this
condition. If you know a young person who may be at risk for developing
tinnitus, or may already have it - pass
this link along to them*!
*Note: You
must be logged in to Facebook to view the MITT page.
| Other Articles of Interest |
Interactive
Sound Ruler
The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
(NIDCD) Noisy Planet campaign now offers an
interactive sound ruler
to learn about how loud sound can be harmful to people's hearing.
Animated graphics give basic tips on preventing noise-induced hearing
loss. The NIDCD sound ruler gives kids and adults firm guidelines about
when they should wear hearing protection, turn down the volume or
simply walk away from loud noise.
To see another fun way to hear the different sound levels of everyday
objects, visit Cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/noisemeter.html.
VA Tests
Nationwide Health Information Exchange
The VA has joined forces with military and private-sector healthcare
providers in a pilot
project
that tests the value of using the Nationwide Health Information Network
(NHIN) to share data among providers that care for veterans and active
military personnel. Read the full article here.
Thanks for reading the October 2011 ATA
Electronic Newsletter! We hope you
found it informative and enjoyable. We welcome ideas and contributions
from our members. Please send to editor@ata.org.
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