A limited company formed by two Leaving Certificate students from Sligo and their physics teacher to provide sound therapy for sufferers of temporary tinnitus, and which has its roots in an award-winning Ursuline College entry at this year's Young Scientists' Exhibition, was launched on Monday evening in the Business Innovation Centre at IT Sligo.

Guest of honour for the launch of Restored Hearing Ltd was Dr. Tony Scott, a medical physicist who is cofounder of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition and president of the Royal Dublin Society.

The directors of the company, Rhona Togher, from Shannoneighter, Eimear O'Carroll from Rathcormac, and their physics teacher and mentor, Anthony Carolan, from Kinlough, have also launched their own company website, www.restoredhearing.ie, from which they now sell their sound therapy.

The two girls who have just completed their Leaving Certificate will continue to study physics, with Rhona going to UCD and Eimear to the University of Edinburgh.

"But we will keep on the company," they said.

The primary purpose of the therapy, which lasts about a minute, is to alleviate temporary tinnitus, often experienced after enduring loud sound such as that at a concert or disco, listening to a loud mp3 player or having been in a loud environment.

However, for sufferers of permanent tinnitus, the company says it cannot offer any guarantee of a cure, although people are welcome to use it to see if it is beneficial to them. Finding a cure for permanent tinnitus would be the ultimate achievement.

Recipients of the therapy require just a broadband connection and a pair of outer-ear headphones.

Rhona, Anthony and Eimear began working together in January 2007 as part of a project on sound localisation and have been continually involved in research since then.

As part of a project for this year's BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, they developed a therapy for people suffering tinnitus on a temporary basis. After one minute of the therapy, 99% of the candidates they tested said their tinnitus was gone. Among those tested were fellow students from the Ursuline and Summerhill College.

The project received huge attention from tinnitus sufferers and sympathisers alike and the trio received 2nd prize overall in the competition as well as winning an award for medical innovation from the Health Research Board.

Encouraged by the response they received and aware of the unprecedented success of their therapy, they made the decision early this year to further develop it and make it available to as many tinnitus sufferers as possible.

Tinnitus is the continuous perception of noise that isn't there, an affliction that is not a disease but a symptom resulting from an underlying cause such as hearing loss, stress, anxiety or sinus problems.

Tinnitus affects the cochlea, the part of the ear that converts wave vibrations to electrical signals before sending them to the brain. There are thousands of tiny hair cells in the cochlea that are stimulated by the pressure of sound waves. When a sound is detected in the inner ear the tiny cochlear hairs move. Then electrical signals are sent through the auditory nerve, which the brain interprets as sound.

These tiny hair cells and auditory nerves are extremely delicate and are easily damaged if one is exposed to a sudden loud noise or has been exposed to loud noises over a long period of time. These sensitive organs can also be damaged as a result of a severe blow to the head.

When the tiny hairs get bent, or even broken, they send electrical impulses randomly to the brain. These signals are interpreted as sound, even though there might be a complete absence of sound.

Some tinnitus is caused by damage to parts of the ear from loud noise or severe emotional or physical stress. The most common cause is damage to the endings of the hearing nerve in the inner ear.

Nowadays, loud noise exposure is an extremely common cause of tinnitus. Excessively loud noise like that from concerts, firearms and high intensity music, such as from in-ear headphones, have a very harmful affect on the cochlear hairs, causing them to bend and break.

Generally, tinnitus is a buzzing or ringing sound. Sufferers hear a noise that no one around them hears, often causing confusion and distress. _

To receive the therapy, one requires Apple Quicktime V7.6.2 or higher. The system works with IE6, IE7, IE8, Mozilla Firefox 3+, Safari 4+, Google Chrome. It is also recommend that the system be used on a 1Mb+ broadband connection.

Speaking at the official launch of the company on Monday evening, Dr. Scott said he was "in awe" of what the students and their teacher were doing. He noted how the two girls were doing their Leaving Certificate, did all the work, set up a company and got funding.

"How did they get funding in 2009. And one of the places they got funding was a bank," he joked.

He said they were a credit to their parents, to their school and to Sligo.

He had no doubt but that their idea would "run and run."

"They are treating a problem that there is no permanent solution to," he said, adding that he would be very surprised if, in the coming months if not sooner, some organization would not be contacting them to see could they be come partners.

The principal of the Ursuline College, Sr. Mairead O'Regan, told The Sligo Champion that she thought the students and their teacher were "wonderful."

"I think they have been very focused and very committed to this work. They certainly believe in what they are doing and they want to make a difference in whatever research they come up with," she said, going to pay tribute to them, their parents and their families.

Speaking at the launch, she said: "In a time when there is so much doom and gloom, it's great to be here celebrating real achievement. I am happy to be here at the beginning of what I think will be very big in the future."

She said that when one mentioned tinnitus, one thought of older people but she went on to allude to the affects of loud noise on the hearing of young people today.

"The whole area is one where there is a need for people to be involved in," she said, jokingly adding how at some events, such as graduation celebrations, one needed to be good at lip reading or charades to know what was being said.

She told the students and their teacher: "I am proud of the work you have done. I wish you the very best. I wish you fulfillment in your research and new vistas when you get into that research. Stay grounded and go reach for the stars," she said.

- HARRY KEANEY