AN UNDERGRADUATE at the University of Sussex has won a grant to carry out research into tinnitus.

Claire Vella, who has just completed the second year of a psychology degree, is one of only 14 students in the UK to win the £1,600 grant from the charity Action on Hearing Loss through its summer studentship scheme, set up to encourage young scientists to focus their research on the condition.

She will spend her summer exploring the connections between tinnitus, which is a ringing or buzzing in the ear, and other senses in the eight-week research project.

Claire said: “I felt inspired to get involved in hearing loss research after I worked at a special needs school for three years where I was supporting a child with hearing impairments and I had to learn how to care and maintain her hearing aids.

“This sparked an interest in the topic of hearing loss, which until now I had been unable to explore further. Research into hearing loss is vital as it enables new and improved treatments to be developed, which, I know from my first-hand experience, would at the very least be invaluable to the development and wellbeing of hearing-impaired children.”