The Tinnituscenter of the University of Regensburg was established in 2007 as a result of an intensive multidisciplinary collaboration of the ENT- and Audiological Department and the Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. This collaboration was established in a common research project aiming to explore brain stimulation as a potential treatment for tinnitus.

Over the years more and more disciplines were involved. All patients receive a comprehensive multidisciplinary diagnostic assessment and the treatment options comprise patient education, cognitive behavioural therapy, sound therapies, pharmacotherapy and different forms of brain stimulation.

Since 2007 more than 3500 patients have been treated at the Tinnituscenter of the University of Regensburg. All data from these patients have been systematically assessed and provide the basis for a large international clinical database.

One of the main objectives of UNITI is to conduct a large-scale multicentre Randomised Clinical Trial (RCT) with a combination of interventions. Five clinical centres (partners of the UNITI consortium) will have a target of recruiting 100 patients each over a period of 9 months. 

One of the UNITI’s clinical centre is Charité. As one of the largest university hospitals in Europe, all of Charité’s clinical care, research and teaching is delivered by physicians and researchers of the highest international standard. Charité proudly lays claim to more than half of all German Nobel Prize winners in Physiology or Medicine, including Emil von Behring, Robert Koch and Paul Ehrlich.

We're delighted to join in the busy campaigning for the international Tinnitus Awareness Week 2020, from February 3 to 9, 2020!

A commom initiative by important institutions and organisations in the field, like the British Tinnitus Association (BTA) and our consortium member Tinnitus Hub, it has become a week of intensive outreach to make the common, yet widely unknown condition of tinnitus, more of a priority in healthcare and science.

Fittingly, this year's main focus will be on tinnitus research, with petitions and other initiatives to raise awareness for the need of more funding in this area, especially in order to enhance treatment options for patients, exactly what UNITI sets out to do! Therefore, we will be, throughout the week, presenting our clinical research centres that will carry out Europe's largest randomised-controlled trial on tinnitus as of yet.

In order to stay updated on all developments during the week, we invite you to have a look at updates here on our website, and to follow our channels on Twitter and Facebook that will be connected to other initiatives with the common hashtag #TinnitusWeek!

We congratulate our UNITI project member Christopher Cederroth, principal investigator in genetics at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, for receiving this year's Geraldine Dietz Young Investigator Award at the 2020 ARO (Association for Research in Otolaryngology) Midwinter Meeting in San Jose, USA!

Dr Raj Shekhawat, associate professor for audiology at University College London (UCL) and speaker of our project advisory board, recently presented UNITI and its ambitions to the participants of the renowned UCL Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Masterclass!

Thank you very much for making UNITI known in this extraordinary setting! 

Furthermore, Dr Shekhawat also recorded a short summary presentation of UNITI at our recent Kick-Off Meeting in Athens, to be accessed here (YouTube).