The Hearing Matters Podcast: Hearing Aids, Hearing Technology and Tinnitus Building A Tinnitus Learning Health Network (TLHN) To Improve Care
The ringing is real...and so is the plan to fix how we manage it. Blaise sits down with Jeffery Reagan, a heart transplant survivor, tinnitus patient, and founder of Tinnitus Learning Health Network, to share a practical blueprint for transforming tinnitus care through a learning health network that centers outcomes, empathy, and shared data. Instead of waiting years for guidelines to catch up, Jeff shows how patients, clinicians, and researchers can collaborate in near real time to reveal which therapies—CBT, TRT, sound therapy, hearing aids—work best for specific subtypes and life contexts.
We explore the watershed moment that pushed Jeff to act, the structure of a learning health network, and why placing the patient’s voice at the center changes everything. You’ll hear how standardized measurement with tools like the Tinnitus Functional Index and Tinnitus Handicap Inventory lets clinics compare results, reduce disparities, and end the dead-end phrase, “there’s nothing we can do.” Along the way, Jeff introduces the team guiding this movement, including leaders like Dr. James Henry and Dr. Donna Murray, and outlines concrete milestones: pilot sites across VA and academic centers, a rebrand to the Tinnitus Learning Health Network (TLHN), and a path to insurer buy-in through real-world evidence.
If you or someone you love lives with tinnitus, this conversation offers both hope and a plan. We talk funding models, data culture, and how machine learning can guide (not replace) clinical judgment to speed up the path to relief. Join us as we turn fragmented efforts into a connected community that learns, shares, and improves together. Subscribe, share this episode with someone who needs it, and leave a review to help more people find expert-backed tinnitus care built on real outcomes.
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Email: hearingmatterspodcast@gmail.com
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