Principal investigator at the University at Buffalo, Dr. Christina Stocking, is currently involved in an NIDCD funded study entitled, “Randomized Trial of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy”. This study was developed by Dr. Richard Tyler of the University of Iowa and is aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT). Tinnitus is the ringing, whistling, buzzing sound that is perceived by some people in the ears or head. This condition affects many, and can be very problematic to some depending on the severity. TRT is a treatment program for tinnitus that has been used widely and gained acceptance among clinicians internationally. However, there is a lack of controlled investigations to study the effectiveness of TRT. This study will investigate the contributions of counseling, the use of hearing aids and sound generators, and the importance of setting masking noise to a particular level. Every participant receives the same counseling, but depending on group assignment may also receive hearing aids and/or partial or full sound generators. The results of this study will determine if TRT (counseling with partial masking) is more effective than masking with counseling, or counseling alone. UB is one of four sites involved, along with the University of Iowa, University of Michigan, and East Tennessee State University. Dr. Stocking and UB have been remarkably successful in recruiting patients with tinnitus to participate. This study allows participants to receive beneficial counseling and possible sound generators and hearing aids over an 18 month time span. Overall, about 275 patients are to be involved in this study, with 25-40 to be seen at UB.

This past holiday season the CDS-GSA adopted a family and hosted a toy drive. Students and faculty were encouraged to bring presents for 5 children. Earlier this year GSA also sponsored a can food drive and encouraged students and faculty to donate non-perishable goods. The toy drive turned out very successful thanks to all the donations made by the CDS department. Pictured is a selection of toys that were donated. The GSA thanks all those who were able to donate to their "Adopt a Family" holiday campaign. Because of the overwhelming generosity GSA was able to provide the family with many different gifts this holiday season.

On Friday, February 1, 2008, UB hosted its Annual Teddy Bear Clinic for Head Start in Harriman Hall. The purpose of this day is to introduce preschool children to a variety of service providers and decrease their anxiety about interacting with professionals. Each provider had a table set up with activities and equipment that the children could use and learn about. Our speech and hearing table was set up with a portable audiometer, otoscope, and teddy bear for audiology and with various interactive speech games for speech. Other providers included professionals from the dental, medical, nursing, nutrition, exercise, and health departments. Our UB graduate Audiology and SLP students were invited to volunteer at the Speech and Hearing table. Overall this was a very successful event. Around 180 children from area Head Start programs came out for the fun. This was a great way to get involved with local preschoolers in a fun, interactive way. Pictured are graduate audiology and slp students with professor Ringholtz and professor Cinotti.

Dr. Henderson and his team of researchers are currently pursuing the development of a drug to compliment the popular cancer drug Cisplatin. Dr. David Hangauer, of UB's Chemistry Department, has developed a line of drugs (SRC inhibitors) that have shown to protect the ear from exposure to traumatic noise. Pilot data shows the SRC inhibitor prevents the hearing loss associated with Cisplatin treatment and Dr. Henderson is exploring the possibility that his drug will also increase Cisplatin tumorcidal activity.

Dr. Richard Salvi recently received a $2.9 million grant from the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders entitled “Animal Models of Tinnitus, Brain Imaging & Therapy”. Dr. Salvi, in collaboration with Dr. Ed Lobarinas and Dr. Wei Sun in the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences will investigate the neurophysiological mechanism of tinnitus in animal models that can “tell the investigators” when they are experiencing phantom sound of tinnitus resulting from high doses of aspirin (salicylate) or intense noise exposure, two well known inducers of tinnitus. The team of investigators will use a specialized microPET camera combined with a metabolic tracer, FDG, to identify regions of increased activity in the brain of animals that are experiencing tinnitus. Electrophysiological measures of brain activity will also be studied to identify the neural signature of tinnitus. The group will test out a series of compounds that have shown promise in suppressing tinnitus in animal models. To accomplish these goals, the research team is collaborating with scientists in the Dept. of Nuclear Medicine at UB and the Preclinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging Facility at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The picture to the left represents region of brain (red) showing increased metabolic activity during salicylate (aspirin) induced tinnitus.

The Center for Hearing and Deafness hosted the Advances in Tinnitus Assessment, Treatment and Neuroscience Basis Conference on June 22-24, 2007, at the Grand Island Holiday Inn Resort and Conference Center. The meeting drew some of the leading tinnitus experts from around the world to discuss the latest scientific advances in the field. In addition to the 22 invited speakers, there were 110 registrants from as far away as the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Argentina, Sweden, Japan, Austria, Brazil, Italy, Finland and Canada. There was representation from the American Tinnitus Association’s Board of Directors, the Tinnitus Research Initiative, medical doctors, audiologists, researchers and pharmaceutical companies to name a few. The social program included a gala banquet and a luncheon cruise along the Niagara River. Pictured are UB audiology students at conference registration. Click on 'read more' for the rest of story.

SASH (Student Association of Speech and Hearing) is a student run organization created for all students who are interested in speech and hearing. SASH’s goal is to bring information and knowledge to a new level. Active members can expect to gain knowledge and experience in the field of speech and hearing. They can also expect to meet other students (both non-majors and CDS majors) who have similar interests. New officers were elected for the 2007-2008 school year. Christine Dee is president, Sara Hochrad is vice president, Stephanie Kitrenos is treasurer, Malinda Lisnitzer is secretary, Elizabeth Horwitz is student liaison, and Julie Goldstein is the fundraising chair.
Please contact us at CDS_SASH@hotmail.com for more information.