Design Team 10

Pulsatile tinnitus (PT) is a condition which affects over five million people in the US; these patients hear a constant, rhythmic sound caused by complications in their cranial vasculature. PT severely debilitates the patients’ quality of life, as up to 60 % of PT patients develop major depression or anxiety as a result. PT is a symptom of more serious disorders localized in the head such as intracranial hypertension, fistulas, tumors, and arteriovenous malformations (AVM). During the diagnostic process, patients may undergo tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of medical imaging scans, including MRI, CT, dynamic CTA, and angiography to identify the specific disorder causing PT and its location within the cranium. Despite these efforts, years can pass without a definitive diagnosis since the process is often long, costly, and futile. Many patients never undergo targeted treatment and must simply live with the condition. Additionally, surgeons may operate on an area suspected to cause PT only to discover afterwards that the problem persists, meaning that an incorrect diagnosis was made. We are developing an easily operable, low cost, and noninvasive device that allows clinicians to efficiently diagnose PT in patients. Our device is crucial to identifying the problem early in the patient provider pathway and cutting down on the time and money patients spend on diagnosis, resulting in a more effective treatment of PT.

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