Summary
Professor Paul Smith was a valued researcher whose work contributed to understanding the auditory and vestibular systems, including tinnitus. He was a dedicated academic and colleague who supported students and the wider research community.
This week is Tinnitus Awareness Week. With sadness the Eisdell Moore Centre for Hearing and Balance Research acknowledges Professor Paul Frederick Smith, an outstanding EMC hearing and balance scientist who passed away on 16 December 2025. We are grateful for Paul’s support for EMC, his enthusiasm for research and teaching and his strong support of colleagues and students. This week we acknowledge, in particular, his contributions to our understanding of tinnitus.
Paul was a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Otago with a primary research interests in vestibular and auditory neuroscience and biostatistics. He was a longstanding member of the HRC Standing Committee on Therapeutic Trials (SCOTT), Scientific Advisory Committee of the American Tinnitus Association (ATA), and the Barany Society, the International Society of Vestibular Physiologists, since 1994. His many contributions including membership of numerous editorial boards (Frontiers in Neurology (Neuro-Otology, Associate Editor), Frontiers in Audiology and Otology (Tinnitus), Frontiers in Neuroscience (Auditory Cognition), Frontiers in Psychology, Auris Nasus Larynx, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Research in Vestibular Science).
Paul’s research investigated the vestibular and auditory systems and how damage to them can result in plastic changes in the brain. He studied the effects of vestibular and auditory damage on the brainstem vestibular and cochlear nuclei and other brain regions. Paul was passionate about teaching and supporting student research – one of his important contributions was the publication (together with his wife and academic colleague Professor Cynthia Darlington) of “Clinical Psychopharmacology: A Primer” designed to introduce readers without an extensive background in these subjects to physiological, biochemical, and behavioural issues surrounding drug interventions for psychological and neurological disorders. Paul’s important contributions to tinnitus include his research with Dr Yiwen Zheng on pharmacotherapy for tinnitus, cannabinoid effects on neuronal hyperactivity in auditory structures, and Metabolomics as potential markers of tinnitus.
We will miss Paul’s statistical insights. He was an Accredited Statistician with the Statistical Society of Australia Inc, a Chartered Statistician, a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, and a member of the NZ Statistical Association. Paul was a member of the editorial board for a Royal Society special issue on hearing, tinnitus and balance research, co-authoring three publications in this issue:
Searchfield, G. D., O’Beirne, G. A., Purdy, S., Thorne, P. R., & Smith, P. F. (2025). Hearing and balance research in Aotearoa New Zealand: Sound and stable foundations for the future. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 55(3). doi: 10.1080/03036758.2025.2454634
Smith, P. F., Darlington, C. L., & Zheng, Y. (2025). Animal studies linking the vestibular system and memory: Aotearoa/New Zealand’s contribution. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 55(3), 424-440. doi: 10.1080/03036758.2024.2412085
Searchfield, G., Adhia, D., Barde, A., De Ridder, D., Doborjeh, M., Doborjeh, Z., … Smith, P. F., & Zheng, Y. (2025). A scoping review of tinnitus research undertaken by New Zealand researchers: Aotearoa: an international hotspot for tinnitus innovation and collaboration. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 55(3), 466-500. doi: 10.1080/03036758.2024.2363424
Ngā mihi nui Paul. Moe mai rā e te Rangatira.
Kia ora rawa atu, Suzanne Purdy, Grant Searchfield, Peter Thorne.