- Aim: To accelerate research into new treatments and medical devices to restore and protect hearing, and cure tinnitus.
- Impact: We funded world-class research and training in 33 hearing research groups. This research has led to several exciting breakthroughs in the past year. One RNID-funded team discovered that obesity and smoking increase the risk of developing hearing loss later in life. Another discovered that specific genes involved in regulating nerve cells have increased activity in the brain after hearing loss, which could be a possible cause of tinnitus. Other RNID-funded researchers discovered a promising drug that may be useful in treating noise-induced hearing loss. They are planning clinical trials to test this drug further.
- Aim: To promote the opportunities in hearing research for the purpose of increasing public and private investment in this field.
- Impact: We organised a successful conference in partnership with Fight for Sight to highlight the opportunities that exist in hearing and vision research, attracting 150 delegates from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. We also exhibited at two international trade conventions and increased the circulation of our industry-focused e-newsletter to more than 500 subscribers. We provided expert advice to 48 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, helping them understand the markets for medical treatments to combat hearing loss and tinnitus, and how their technology could be applied.
- Aim: To consult our members on their needs and experiences, to ensure that we are providing services and campaigning on the issues that matter to them most.
- Impact: Our
annual survey continues to be highly successful, with a response rate
of almost one in three. We will use the results, and comparisons with
earlier surveys, to inform our continuing work in improving access to
health care and other services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
An online survey taken by 630 members revealed that their main problem when watching TV was subtitles, closely followed by background noise. Typical subtitling problems were their incompleteness, poor sense, poor spelling and unavailability, especially on satellite and cable channels, and on internet-based 'catch-up' television. These crucial results will inform the direction of our future TV access campaigns.