IIT Bombay develops affordable device for diagnosing tinnitus

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has developed a new tinnitus matching device with customisable solution at an affordable cost. “The objective of the project is to equip clinicians with the precise tinnitus diagnosis tools and provide each patient a unique experience in the tinnitus management,” a statement by the institute said.

As per the data published in the medical journal, JAMA Neurology 2022, tinnitus has affected over 740 million adults globally and is considered to be a big problem faced by more than 120 million people, the institute said.

The research team at IIT Bombay includes Maryam Shojaei Baghini, Neeleshkumar Pandit along with a group of MTech students and a team of medical experts – Milind Kirtane, Arpit Sharma, Sangeeta Varty and Nishita Mohandas from Hindjuja Hospital, Mumbai – who have worked on the design, development and the clinical evaluation of innovation in tinnitus diagnosis, the institute added.

As per the institute, tinnitus results in severe sleep disturbance, depression, anxiety, negative impact on mental health, irritability and impact on social life. Therefore, tinnitus has a drowning impact on the quality of life, it further said.

IIT Bombay Tinnitus Device: Key features

The key features of the device developed by IIT Bombay are listed below:

• Precise tinnitus matching device for diagnosis
• Customisable multimodal tinnitus management software for the patient
• Enabled at clinic level
• Indigenous and affordable
• The clinical tests showed improvement in the tinnitus symptoms for those enrolled in the clinical trial, it said.

The institute further explains that the device and the supporting application software offer an approach that includes precise tinnitus matching, customisable “multimodal tinnitus” management approach and disease progress tracking at an affordable cost.

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The technology is being transferred to the start-up formed out of the project. The start-up then plans to expand clinical trials and work on the regulatory approval for the product’s commercialisation, the institute added.

The device, software and results of the first clinical trial were reported in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Clinical Skills December 2024, it further said.