§ Dr. VisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has commissioned, and at what cost, into the alleviation of tinnitus. [30738]
§ Mr. MilburnThe main agency through which the Government support medical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC). The MRC and Trent Regional Office were supporting research specifically into tinnitus at the MRC Institute of Hearing Research in Nottingham at an annual level of approximately £100,000 per year until the end of 1992.
Since then, there have been two studies on the quality of life of those who report tinnitus and there is continued work in this area. In addition, a study of young people's lifestyles has shown an association between those reporting tinnitus and those who have experienced high levels of leisure noise from, for example, discos and 264W personal cassette players. This work is currently being prepared for publication, although it has been presented at several conferences during 1996–97. It is expected that future clinical and epidemiological studies at the Institute of Hearing Research will continue to incorporate a tinnitus aspect.
The MRC also currently funds a number of researchers to investigate at a basic level the mechanisms through which the ear analyses, and the brain interprets and attends to, sound. New approaches to tinnitus, including treatments for the sensory neural hearing losses that underlie most cases, are expected to result from such work. The cost of this research is unavailable at the current time.