A NEW research centre in Nottingham is aiming to find a cure for tinnitus.

The Auditory Centre of Excellence will be based at the National Biomedical Research Unit at Ropewalk House in the city. It has been launched by the Deafness Research UK charity along with Nottingham's two universities.

It will open with an initial three-year pilot investigation into how and why hearing aids have been anecdotally reported to alleviate some of the symptoms of tinnitus.

The condition is a constant ringing, buzzing or pounding in the ears and can have a massive impact on people's lives.

Research suggests 10% of the UK population suffer from tinnitus. It has few treatments and no known cure.

The new centre will focus its initial work on hearing aids, because 97% of audiologists in the UK prescribe them as a treatment for tinnitus even though no systematic, respected research exists for their effectiveness.