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Hearing loss and tinnitus—are funders and industry listening?

Nature Biotechnology volume 31, pages 972–974 (2013)Cite this article

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To the Editor:

A News story in your July issue highlighted the recent interest in translational research in hearing and hearing loss1. Three hundred sixty million people suffer from hearing impairment worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (Geneva) and this number is expected to increase to 900 million by 2025. Although not life threatening, deafness seriously affects daily life, ranking as the second most common cause of “years lived with disability” (http://www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/bod_hearingloss.pdf). Still, the impact of hearing disorders is largely underestimated2 or even neglected by public awareness, funding authorities and industry.

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Figure 1: Funding and publication in diabetes, hearing and tinnitus research.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all organizations mentioned in this article that shared their expenditures, as well as the Hudspeth laboratory for invaluable support. C.R.C. is a recipient of post-doctoral fellowships from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) nþ PBGEP3-125837 and the Schweizerischen Stiftung für medizinisch-biologische Stipendien (SSMBS) nþ PASMP3-136979 and has received funding from the Wenner Gren, Lars Hiertas Minne, Magnus Bergvalls Stiftelserna and Tysta Skolan. B.C. has received funding from the Vetenskapsrådet (VR), Forskningsrådet för arbetsliv och socialvetenskap (FAS), Karolinska Institutet and Tysta Skolan. B.L. has received research funding from the Tinnitus Research Initiative (TRI), the American Tinnitus Association (ATA), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), AztraZeneca and Cerbomed. This article reflects the authors' personal opinions and not those of the cited organizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Christopher R Cederroth & Barbara Canlon

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, and Tinnitus Research Initiative, Regensburg, Germany

    Berthold Langguth

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  1. Christopher R Cederroth
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  2. Barbara Canlon
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  3. Berthold Langguth
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Correspondence to Christopher R Cederroth.

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Competing interests

B.L. has received honoraria and speakers' fee from ANM, AztraZeneca, Autifony, Lundbeck, Merz, Magventure, Novartis, Pfizer and Servier, and travel and accommodation payments from Lilly, Servier and Pfizer. B.L. is a member of the executive board of the Tinnitus Research Initiative.

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Cederroth, C., Canlon, B. & Langguth, B. Hearing loss and tinnitus—are funders and industry listening?. Nat Biotechnol 31, 972–974 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.2736

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