History of the Tinnitus Research Consortium

•Philanthropist (Robert W. Wilson) provided a consortium to enhance research into the mechanisms of tinnitus was created.•Over 15 years, a variety of requests for proposals were generated by the TRC and many projects were funded.•Supported projects advanced the tinnitus field, and several new investigators achieved federal tinnitus research support.

This article describes the creation and accomplishments of the Tinnitus Research Consortium (TRC), founded and supported through philanthropy and intended to enrich the field of tinnitus research. Bringing together a group of distinguished auditory researchers, most of whom were not involved in tinnitus research, over the fifteen years of its life it developed novel research approaches and recruited a number of new investigators into the field. The purpose of this special issue is to highlight some of the significant accomplishments of the investigators supported by the TRC.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled “Tinnitus”.