Tinnitus Perú Offers Individualized Treatment for Tinnitus Deliverable Remotely #Innovate4Health
This post is one of a series in the #Innovate4Health policy research initiative. #Innovate4Health is a joint research project by the University of Akron IP Center (UAIP), the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), and the Geneva Network. This project highlights how intellectual-property-driven innovation can address global health challenges. If you have questions, comments, or a suggestion for a story we should highlight, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact UAIP Research Fellow Douglas Park at dpark@uakron.edu for more information.
Sophia Sterling
Tinnitus, a debilitating hearing problem, afflicts roughly 740 million people globally. Tinnitus is an intolerable sound perceived by the sufferer without any external auditory source. Although not painful, tinnitus can severely degrade people’s quality of life by making it impossible to listen, concentrate, or even fall asleep.
To address this epidemic, Giannina Ofelia Honorio founded Tinnitus Perú, a company that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of tinnitus. One of Tinnitus Perú’s revolutionary innovations is technology that provides customized rehabilitation therapy to drastically reduce the perception of or even eliminate tinnitus altogether.
Tinnitus is especially prevalent in South America, where 21.9% of the population suffers from ringing in their ears. A wide range of common issues lead to tinnitus, including noise exposure, hearing loss, medications, ear wax, or head and neck injuries. Between 10 and 25% of adults worldwide suffer from tinnitus. This rate increases with age, with more than a third of adults over the age of 65 suffering from the condition. People with tinnitus also are more prone to depression and anxiety.
Currently, there is no cure for tinnitus, just treatments that mitigate the effects. Hearing aids have been used to make external sounds easier to hear over the ringing, and wearable sound generators can help override the ringing. Medication also can help with sleep issues. None of these remedies reduce the ringing itself, however.
Exacerbating the problem for many tinnitus sufferers is lack of access to ear, nose, and throat specialists. Ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists, also known as otolaryngologists, are in short supply globally, with only 2.19 clinicians available per 100,000 people. This scarcity is particularly acute in lower and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the density of ENT specialists is significantly lower compared to high-income countries. Despite housing 85% of the global population affected by ENT conditions like head and neck cancer and hearing loss, LMICs have only 0.09 to 2.85 ENT clinicians per 100,000 people, while high-income countries have 5.13 specialists per 100,000 residents, highlighting the urgent need for both capacity building and novel solutions to increase accessibility of treatments.
Honorio, the founder and CEO of Tinnitus Perú, identified the need for more accessible treatments for tinnitus through her experience as a volunteer firefighter. Honorio, an industrial engineer and university lecturer with a master’s degree in neuroscience, saw how prevalent tinnitus was among her fellow firefighters. She founded Tinnitus Perú, a 30-person startup with a multi-disciplinary team of doctors, engineers, technologists, and clinicians, to address the challenge.
Tinnitus Perú has developed a cutting-edge biomedical electronic system that creates personalized rehabilitation plans for individuals suffering from tinnitus. The treatment process begins with an initial hearing examination to diagnose the patient’s specific hearing problem. Once a tinnitus diagnosis is confirmed, Tinnitus Perú’s proprietary hardware and software are used to test the patient and develop a model of the sounds they perceive. This innovative electronic system employs various frequencies of sound signaling to pinpoint the exact type of persistent noises the patient is experiencing.
Honorio highlights the importance of this technology in helping patients communicate their experiences: “One of the biggest problems is that tinnitus patients don’t know how to explain what sounds they hear and no one believes them. With this electronic system they can identify it, and now they can communicate it to their relatives.” By demonstrating the sounds patients perceive and providing them with the tools to describe these sounds, Tinnitus Perú’s system offers a positive effect even before further treatment begins.
Following the initial screening, the electronic system uses the information gathered to create a personalized treatment plan for each patient. This plan consists of a specific sequence of sounds designed to help reduce the ringing sensation. Patients typically undergo eight to fourteen sessions, which can significantly reduce and even eliminate the tinnitus. To track the effectiveness of the treatment, the patient’s progress is measured every three sessions. Most patients experience at least an 80% reduction in their tinnitus symptoms, with the perception of ringing being significantly reduced or even completely eliminated after several months of treatment.
In addition to the sound therapy, Tinnitus Perú’s treatment program includes psychological support to help patients cope with the emotional and mental aspects of tinnitus. “With this technology we are able to improve people’s quality of life. It’s nice to see people change so much . . . as stress is strong due to tinnitus,” Honorio said. This holistic approach ensures that patients receive comprehensive care tailored to their individual needs. To make the treatment more accessible, Tinnitus Perú offers telemedicine services through their app, allowing patients to receive their personalized treatment plans and support remotely, from the comfort of their own homes.
Today, Tinnitus Perú treats over four hundred patients every month, and this number continues to grow. The company hopes to help the million or more patients suffering from tinnitus in Latin America by expanding its reach into Chile and Bolivia.20 Ultimately, the company sees its therapy as having a global reach.
The company has received several awards and accolades for its innovative technology. MIT Technology review recognized Honorio as one of its “Innovators Under 35 Latin America 2023.” Tinnitus Perú reached the finals of the Start Jerusalem contest, organized by the Peruvian Government and the Embassy of Israel in Peru, and took second place in Brain Chile’s international competition for innovative startups. Thanks to the latter competition, Brain Chile, a tech incubator, became Tinnitus Perú’s first investor.
Tinnitus Perú recognizes that secure intellectual property rights are crucial to its ability to expand its operations and secure further investment. Tinnitus Perú has obtained both patent and trademark protection in Perú. It recognizes that in order to fulfill its ambitions to expand internationally, it will need to secure IP rights in other countries. A more expansive patent portfolio with an international reach increases the likelihood of investment, as it will secure a broader potential market for Tinnitus Perú’s innovations.
Tinnitus Perú’s groundbreaking technology offers hope to the millions of people worldwide who suffer from the debilitating effects of tinnitus. By developing a personalized, accessible, and effective treatment that directly addresses the root cause of the condition, Giannina Honorio and her team have demonstrated the power of innovation to tackle global health challenges. The company’s commitment to securing intellectual property rights, both in Perú and internationally, underscores the crucial role that patents and trademarks play in fostering innovation and attracting the investment needed to bring life-changing technologies to market. As Tinnitus Perú continues to expand its reach and refine its technology, it serves as an example of how innovative solutions, backed by strong IP protections, can improve the lives of people around the world.
