[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1443 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1443

To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to recognize tinnitus as a 
  mandatory condition for research and treatment by the Department of 
               Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 9, 2013

 Mr. Michaud introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

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                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to recognize tinnitus as a 
  mandatory condition for research and treatment by the Department of 
               Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tinnitus Research and Treatment Act 
of 2013''.

SEC. 2. RECOGNITION AND TREATMENT OF TINNITUS AT DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 
              AFFAIRS AUDITORY CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE.

    The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall recognize tinnitus as a 
mandatory condition for research and treatment by the Department of 
Veterans Affairs Auditory Centers of Excellence.

SEC. 3. RESEARCH ON PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF TINNITUS.

    The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall ensure that research is 
conducted at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities on the 
prevention and treatment of tinnitus. Such research shall include--
            (1) an assessment of the efficacy of multidisciplinary 
        tinnitus treatment modalities on different subsets of patients;
            (2) studies on the underlying etiology of tinnitus in 
        veteran populations that occur as a result of different causal 
        factors, including blast-related tinnitus where there is no 
        measurable hearing loss versus other forms of noise-induced 
        tinnitus where there is hearing loss; and
            (3) a study of the underlying mechanisms between hearing 
        loss and tinnitus, including cases in which one or the other 
        condition is present, but not both.

SEC. 4. INTERDEPARTMENTAL COOPERATION.

    The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall ensure the cooperation of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs with the Hearing Center of 
Excellence established by the Department of Defense to further research 
on tinnitus.
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