Updated June 30, 2017
A company set up by physics students at the University of Edinburgh and University College Dublin has come up with a solution to the problem of temporary tinnitus.
The students have formed Restored Hearing, a company based in Sligo, north-west Ireland, and claims its sound therapy is so effective, that it can cure cases of temporary tinnitus in 99% of cases.
Restored Hearing began life as a secondary school project in 2007 at the Ursuline College in Sligo. Students Rhona Togher and Eimear O’Carroll, and their Physics teacher, Anthony Carolan, set about finding a solution to the problem of temporary tinnitus. As a result of this research, the pupils’ project duly won a prize at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.
The Restored Hearing therapy that they developed plays low-frequency sounds into the ear, which make the tiny cochlear hairs stand up again. Eimear explains, “Using sound, our therapy stimulates the inner ear to promote the re-straightening of the cochlear hairs that get bent or even broken when they are subjected to high intensity sound. When the cochlear hairs are bent over, they interfere with each other and this interference is interpreted by the brain as sound, often in the complete absence of any sound. In 99% of cases, the tinnitus of the sufferer was gone after one minute of our sound therapy.”
Eimear is currently a fourth year physics student in the University of Edinburgh while Rhona is on a sabbatical from her physics degree and is working as the CEO. Together with Anthony, they are co-owners and directors of Restored Hearing.
Restored Hearing is now using funding from LAUNCH.ed, the University of Edinburgh’s student entrepreneurs business start-up program, and raising £500,000 to develop the long term strategy for Restored Hearing’s research, development, and product commercialization.
SOURCE: University of Edinburgh
