Sound thinking: how 30 years of tinnitus research became a start-up

25 August 2026

Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Start-ups, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Science and technology

Did you know an estimated six percent of New Zealanders over the age of 13 experience tinnitus? It's that annoying high-pitched ringing in your ears.

That equates to about 207,000 people. Globally, the figure is estimated to be more than 740 million. That's a large potential market for TrueSilence Therapeutics, founded on research by Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland Professor of Audiology Grant Searchfield.

For Searchfield, founder and Chief Science Officer of TrueSilence Therapeutics, the numbers represent more than a significant health challenge. They are an opportunity to make a substantial difference to people's lives.

TrueSilence Therapeutics' first platform, QCore, uses non-invasive digital polytherapy, combining active and gamified sound therapy through a smartphone app and earbuds. Clinician-prescribed daily activities guide patients through personalised 90-day programmes to help them manage their tinnitus.

The programme targets the three components Searchfield identifies as contributing to the magnitude of tinnitus: loudness, awareness and annoyance.

"Every day for 90 days, patients are prescribed a combination of therapy components: relief, relaxation and retraining," Searchfield says. "We find they get a lasting treatment effect that is sustained."

Searchfield, who grew up with a hearing-impaired mother, was always interested in non-medical, technical health sciences.

"When audiology started at Auckland while I was an undergraduate, it seemed like it was right up my alley."

After graduating as an audiologist in 1994, Searchfield met many patients with tinnitus but found he had few tools to help them. It became the "gnarly problem" he set about addressing over the next three decades.

That research was spun out of the lab and into a start-up with the backing of US-based co-founders Robert Derricotte and Michael Hopson, who were looking to invest in a digital health venture. They were introduced to Searchfield and his research through UniServices, the University's commercialisation arm, which has also invested in the start-up.

That founder partnership meant TrueSilence was international from day one. The company is based in Atlanta, United States, although most of its technical staff are in New Zealand. Its first rollout to customers is now underway through New Zealand audiologists while the company works towards US regulatory approval.

It has meant a steep learning curve for Searchfield, who has had to overcome some hesitancy about the entrepreneurial side of being a founder.

"Initially, my interest in being a business person was relatively low," he says. "I'm much more comfortable with science."

However, as he has gained more exposure to the commercial demands of the business, he has become more willing to engage.

"I just didn't come from that background. The idea of a business was actually quite scary to me. I am happy being on a salary and I don't see that as a weakness. Now I do both, the business and the science," says Searchfield, who remains hands-on in the company's ongoing technical development.

Partnering and collaborating with people who have knowledge he doesn't have, has been a key part of developing what is now QCore.

"For a long time, as a non-engineer, my barrier to moving forward was being able to turn concepts into a commercial product or a prototype."

An opportunity to work with a researcher from the University's Auckland Bioengineering Institute changed everything.

"Finally, I had something that I could demonstrate to people," Searchfield says. "It's a really good example of why collaboration is essential. The ability to ignite the fuel only happened through collaboration."

That belief reflects a broader lesson Searchfield has seen for himself: complex problems rarely fit neatly within one discipline.

"When you connect with people from different disciplines and talk about the problems you might be facing, you might find the problem is similar to one they've tackled.

"They get to apply their technology to something that might have millions of people experiencing it, and that can help capture their imagination."

Searchfield saw this cross-pollination of knowledge while mentoring through the University's Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Velocity programme in 2015. He worked with a business student who was developing earplugs for surfers. Although he was there to provide clinical and scientific support, the experience also gave Searchfield insight into the commercial side of translating ideas into products.

"That collaborative nature is where the value is in programmes like that, especially getting those students' access to the expertise," he says.

Beyond the importance of collaboration, Searchfield's best advice for aspiring founders is to make sure they're clear about the problem they're trying to solve before trying to create a solution.

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