Hope for sufferers of ‘invisible’ tinnitus disorder
Daniel Polley. Photo by Dylan Goodman Health Hope for sufferers of ‘invisible’ tinnitus disorder Researchers develop way to objectively measure common malady, which may improve diagnosis, help in developing therapies Alvin Powell Harvard Staff June 16, 2025 8 min read Researchers are gaining new insights into the “invisible” disorder tinnitus, whose phantom ringing, hissing, and other noises are often linked to hearing damage, but for which physicians have not had an objective measure, until now. The advance, reported in late April in the journal Science Translational Medicine and funded by the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, has the potential to provide physicians and researchers with a way to gauge tinnitus severity beyond the subjective patient questionnaires in use today. In addition, it also may help develop more effective therapies. In this edited conversation, Daniel Polley, director of the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye and Ear and professor of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at Harvard Medical...