Tinnitus Treatment with Targeted Electric Stimulation

NIH RePORTER · NIH · R01 · $115,631 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Principal Investigator/Program Director (Last, first, middle): Zeng, Fan-Gang ABSTRACT The present administrative supplement proposes to examine the relationship between tinnitus and cognition and to treat tinnitus in patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD). Tinnitus is a hearing disorder that produces auditory perception without auditory stimulation and affects 13-52% of the ARDR population. Using the same experimental protocols as in the active parent award and building upon the preliminary work from a previous supplement, the proposed work will achieve the following specific aims. Specific Aim 1 will investigate the relationship between tinnitus and cognition in ADRD patients. We predict that tinnitus severity will be positively correlated with cognitive decline. Specific Aim 2 will use electric brain stimulation to treat tinnitus in the same patients. The main hypothesis is that, compared with typical non-ADRD subjects, the ADRD patients would require different electric stimulation parameters for optimal tinnitus suppression. We predict that dynamic brain electric stimulation will be more effective than steady-state ear electric stimulation in suppressing tinnitus in ADRD subjects. Tinnitus characterization may serve as a biomarker for monitoring the onset and progression of ADRD, while tinnitus suppression may delay or reduce cognitive decline and development of ADRD. Research Strategy

Key facts

NIH application ID
10121063
Project number
3R01DC015587-04S1
Recipient
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
Principal Investigator
Fan-Gang Zeng
Activity code
R01
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2020
Award amount
$115,631
Award type
3
Project period
2016-08-16 → 2021-07-31