Associated Partners

Academic Partners

	Partner Organisation	Contact Person	Short description
	University of Granada, ES	Antonio Lopez-Escames	The University of Granada (UGR) is an institution that is open to the world in every aspect: studies, teaching, research, university management and co-operation. UGR is one of Europe’s top-ranking international universities, coming first in many international mobility statistics. Every year, the UGR offers over 4,000 international mobility places for undergraduate and postgraduate studies through the different programmes launched during the academic year: mainly LLP/Erasmus, UGR Exchange Programme and Erasmus Mundus (without forgetting the specific training and summer courses). All these initiatives place the UGR at the head of Europe as regards student mobility. Not in vain, UGR is the institution that most Erasmus students receives (over 2,150) and sends (more than 2,100) in Europe, and was awarded the Erasmus Gold Star in 2007.
	Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, DE	Myra Spiliopoulou	Prof. Myra Spiliopoulou is Chair of Business Informatics II at the Faculty of Computer Science, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, and leads the Knowledge Management and Discovery Lab (KMD). The Lab develops and applies innovative mining methods for dynamic data in two application areas: business applications, especially recommendation engines and document polarity analysis, and medical applications. In the area of medical research and healthcare, the KMD Lab works on methods for the analysis of timestamped, sparse and systematcally incomplete data to win insights in risk factor identification, patient profiling and patient evolution. Together with the University of Regensburg (Dr. Schlee) and the University of Ulm (Dr. Pryss), Myra Spiliopoulou and her team work on understanding the behaviour, concerns and physiopathological evolution of tinnitus patients - those treated in the hospital, those discussing on their disease in the TinnitusTalk platform and those contributing to patient evolution monitoring with the Track Your Tinnitus mobile application. Prof. Spiliopoulou says: "We look forward to the joint research in the ESIT network of excellence. Our mission in ESIT is to support junior medical researchers in data exploration by making them familiar with basic data mining methods, by interacting with them and by applying our methods to help them in hypothesis formulation."
	University of Wuerzburg, DE	Barbara Vona	One of the oldest universities in Germany it has grown to include over 28,000 students and 3,100 postgraduates. The University is one of the leading institutions of higher education in Germany and is competitive on the international level in biology, medicine, physics and psychology. We are interested in dissecting the genetic basis for tinnitus and hearing loss. We will employ whole exome sequencing approaches to uncover novel genes, which is a first step to identifying specific mechanisms involved in these auditory disorders. We are happy to be a part of this important initiative.
	University of Leuven, BE	Johan Vlaeyen	Situated in Belgium, in the heart of Western Europe, KU Leuven has been a centre of learning for nearly six centuries. Today, it is Belgium's largest university and, founded in 1425, one of the oldest and most renowned universities in Europe. As a leading European research university and co-founder of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), KU Leuven offers a wide variety of international master’s programmes, all supported by high-quality, innovative, interdisciplinary research.
	University College London, UK	Roland Schaette	The UCL Ear Institute is a leading research facility for hearing research, with the largest number of basic scientists researching hearing and deafness in the UK.
	Tartu Ulikool, EE	Marlon Dumas	With around 17000 students and 1800 academic staff, University of Tartu is the largest university in Estonia and the highest-ranked University in the Baltic States according to the Times Higher Education ranking. The university offers 70 Bachelor programs, 80 Masters programs and 30 doctoral programs across the whole spectrum of humanities, social and natural sciences, technology and medicine. The university strongly emphasizes research training and awards more than 100 doctoral degrees per year.

Industry Partners

	Partner Organisation	Main Contact Person	Short description
	Bee Group, CH	Bernhard Wandernoth	BEE Group AG is home to leading companies in the emerging field of advanced uses of the electroencephalogram (EEG) for medical applications, in particular: 1) Diagnostics: This is mainly about discovery, validation and approval of EEG/ERP-based biomarkers (neuromarkers) as well as tools and services that utilize the markers to enhance the precision of diagnoses of mental health disorders and to help to improve personalized therapy. 2) Therapy: BEE Group invests in the development of clinical devices and software for neurofeedback (EEG-biofeedback) that support evidence-based neurofeedback techniques. Bee is leading in EEG signal processing, advanced feature extraction and complex feedback animation control. BEE Group maintains a network of cooperation partners in science and clinical application, one of which is the University of Zurich, where BEE currently supports studies regarding advanced neurofeedback approaches for treatment of Tinnitus.
	Brain Products, DE	Alexander Svojanovsky	Established in 1997, Brain Products GmbH has rapidly grown to become one of the leading suppliers of electroencephalography (EEG) systems for neurophysiological recording. Brain Products supplements a comprehensive product suite with a worldwide network of knowledge brought to life by our distributors and business partners, collaborative projects with universities, in-house Research and Development, the collaboration of Brain Products’ experienced team, industry experts, and clients resulting in continued product innovation.
	Cochlear, BE	Carl van Himbeeck	Cochlear’s mission statement says: We help people hear and be heard. Cochlear is global market leader in implantable hearing solutions. 7 out of 10 patients choose for Cochlear. The Cochlear Technology Center in Belgium is one of the companies’ main research facilities.
	Del Bo Technologia, IT	Luca del Bo	Del Bo tecnologia per l'ascolto - Tinnitus Clinic is a private company focusing on the development and fitting of instruments for auditory and electrical stimulation. The treatment of chronic tinnitus is a main topic of our clinical activity since the 1999. We are happy to be part of the ESIT Project and we are ready to welcome students and researchers in our Clinic in Milano.
	Medien LB, DE	Anita Stangl	MedienLB is currently the market leader for educational films in Germany. Thus, MLB is in contact with over 40,000 schools, 678,100 teachers and 9,727,000 pupils in Germany and German speaking countries. The educational films are shown in South Africa, Sweden, USA, France and many other countries. MedienLB educational films are highly recognised: Erasmus Euro Media Award 2011 and 2013, Winner of the Medal of Excellence 2014, Laureate of the Comenius-EduMedia-Award 2014 for outstanding educational, content and creative ICT-based education materials in the field of teaching and teaching management systems. Another 6 Comenius awards in 2015!
	Pinpoint Scotland, UK	Polly Chester	ENT and Audiology News is an award-winning, bimonthly specialty magazine for Ear, Nose and Throat and Audiology professionals with an international circulation of around 16,000. The magazine is now in its 25th year of publication and continues to lead the field – distributed to readers in more than 140 countries worldwide.
	Sensorion, FR	Jonas Dyhrfjeld-Jonsen	Sensorion is a specialty pharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of targeted and innovative treatments for inner ear disease such as hearing loss, tinnitus and vestibular dysfunction. Originated as a spin-off in 2009 from the INSERM in Montpellier (France), the company has since evolved into a publicly traded (Alternext Paris: ALSEN), clinical stage pharmaceutical company with 19 full-time employees of which 15 are occupied full-time in preclinical and clinical R&D. With a management team constituted of experienced pharma executives and scientists, Sensorion’s headquarters with an internal in vitro and in vivo screening platform are located on the AAALAC accredited Montpellier R&D site of Sanofi, providing access to first-class infrastructure and facilities. The company has 2 active clinical programs, ongoing collaborations with academic institutions worldwide and has received both national level and European R&D grants. Jonas Dyhrfjeld-Jonsen comments on ESIT: "Tinnitus is a severely debilitating condition which currently constitutes a significant unmet medical need with no satisfactory solutions for a growing patient population worldwide. Sensorion is pleased to be part of the European School on Interdisciplinary Tinnitus Research initiative, which we expect will contribute to moving forward the understanding of the etiology and pathophysiology of tinnitus, thus facilitating the development of safe and effective treatments for patients."
	Sivantos, DE	Ronny Hannemann	Sivantos is one of the world’s top manufacturers of hearing aids. In fact, we are proud to develop and manufacture one out of every four hearing aids being used worldwide. We have helped people with hearing loss for more than 100 years. Today, Sivantos Group employs about 5,000 people in more than 25 countries. Sivantos offers hearing aids branded Signia, Siemens, Audio Service, Rexton and A&M. Complementary accessories, fitting software, smartphone apps and diagnostics workflow solutions are also part of its portfolio. Tinnitus usually goes hand in hand with hearing loss. This is why, for many years, Sivantos has developed and integrated specific therapies. Relief for tinnitus patients through hearing aids is widely considered one of Sivantos’ strengths. People with tinnitus would like to have immediate relief. Study results show that with our latest development, Notch Therapy, tinnitus shows signs of improvement after only 3 weeks (Powers et al. 2016). In comparison, the well-known Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) shows an improvement after about six to 12 months. So no wonder, Sivantos is well positioned to sponsor ESIT. „ESIT will take the science of understanding tinnitus and developing effective solutions for its treatment to a new level. Sivantos is looking forward to playing a supporting role in this international research project to improve the quality of life of people living with tinnitus”, says Ronny Hannemann, Audiology engineer at Sivantos.
	Sonormed, DE	Jörg Land	Sonormed is a Hamburg-based medical technology company with a strong focus on digital audiology. An interdisciplinary team of sound engineers, computer scientists and neurobiologists develops state-of-the art solutions to improve hearing impairments. Building a unique infrastructure that integrates regulatory requirements (e.g. medical device regulation), specific needs of ENT physicians and the requirements for reimbursement is the core mission of Sonormed. Based on this infrastructure Sonormed builds a portfolio of related products for diagnostics, therapeutic use and workflow management. Sonormed’s most widely recognised solution is Tinnitracks, a fully digital therapeutic app for tinnitus patients. Tinnitracks is a certified medical solution providing access to the scientifically validated Tailor-Made Notched Training (TMNMT), a neuro-acoustic treatment approach that targets hyperactive nerve cells underlying the perception of tinnitus. In Germany, Tinnitracks has become the first therapeutic app to be reimbursed by statutory and private health insurances. Heading towards a complete integration into the existing healthcare system, Sonormed was able to receive numerous prestigious awards for the development of Tinnitracks, e.g.,the renowned US-technology-award SXSW in “Digital Health & Life Science”.
	Soterix, US	Abhishek Datta	Soterix Medical Inc. (SMI) was formed to develop and deploy innovative medical treatments focused on neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders and rehabilitation. SMI is the world leader in clinical trials for non-invasive neuromodulation working with over 200 medical centers in the US and worldwide. From the most targeted non-invasive clinical systems to the most portable units, Soterix Medical provides clinicians and patients with unique and adaptable solutions. SMI has developed an exclusive technology called High-Definition tDCS. This is the only clinical validated system for non-invasive application of therapeutic current to desired brain regions. There is no similar device produced in Europe.

Non-profit Organisations

	Partner Organisation	Main Contact Person	Short description
	Britisch Tinnitus Association (BTA), UK	David Stockdale	The British Tinnitus Association (BTA) strives to be the primary source of support and information for people with tinnitus and their carers in the UK and to advocate on their behalf. BTA aims to encourage prevention through it's educational programme and to seek effective management of tinnitus through a medical research programme.
	France acouphenes, FR	Alain Londero	France acouphene is an independent non-profit organization, founded in 1992, which is run by volunteers suffering from tinnitus, hyperacousis, Meniere's Disease or acoustic neuroma. The goals of FA are to help the patients and their families by providing information via a phone hotline, raise public awareness, support research, participate in international networks on the relevant topics and contribute the development of policies for the prevention of noise trauma.
	Menieres Society, UK	Natasha Harrington-Benton	The Ménière’s Society is a UK Registered Charity for those affected by vestibular disorders. The society provides support and information to those affected by vestibular disorders and fund vital research into all aspects of these conditions.
	Tinnitus Research Initiative, DE	Berthold Langguth	The Tinnitus Research Initiative (TRI) Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to reach for a better understanding of tinnitus with the goal of development of effective treatment for all kinds of tinnitus to the benefit of all tinnitus sufferers. The TRI committed itselve to improving the quality of life for patients who suffer from tinnitus and tinnitusrelated disorders. Central to the TRI mission is the facilitation and support of biomedical research which will lead to novel, effective therapies for the treatment of tinnitus.
	Tinnitus Hub, UK	Steve Harrison	Tinnitus Hub is a UK non-profit that represents patients from across the globe. We are principally an online based service, with patient forums and teams of patient volunteers. We operate the Tinnitus Talk Support Forum, which has nearly 20,000 members and 200,000 unique visitors every month. Our mission is to bridge the connection between the patient and the researcher, provide a space for patients to get peer support, promote awareness of tinnitus and its related conditions and enable patients to play their part in research through crowdsourced data collection and research collaborations.
	Public Health Authority Regensburg, DE	Matthias Pregler	The public health authority Regensburg (Gesundheitsamt Regensburg) is the municipal institution of the public health system that is responsible for the transaction of the regulations by the Ministry of Health. There is a genuine interest of the public health system in general and the Gesundheitsamt in particular, to increase awareness about environmental risk factors for the development of tinnitus such as loud noise or stressful life environment and ultimately the prevention of tinnitus.