Latest news on tinnitus therapy

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 25 Mar 2011 7:09 am

A constant annoying ringing in the ears – called tinnitus - didn't go away when researchers tried zapping patients' heads with magnetic waves in a recent study.
The researchers still think magnetic therapy could work, if they can find the right part of the brain to apply it to.
"We haven't found the sweet spot yet," said Dr. Jay Piccirillo, the lead author of the study and a professor of ear, nose and throat surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri.
Tinnitus is caused by a "phantom" sound, thought to be the result of mis-wired brain cells.
The condition is common. One study estimated that 50 million Americans experience chronic ringing in their ears at some point in their lives.
Piccirillo said most people are not bothered by the ringing. A very small fraction of people are crippled by the sound, however. Some become depressed, or even suicidal.
Doctors who treated the patients in the current study generated magnetic waves outside each person's head that traveled through the skull into the brain; the waves would temporarily rewire the brain's circuits. Several studies in Europe have found that sessions of such magnetic therapy can help relieve ear ringing.

In the United States, sending magnetic waves to the brain is approved for use in patients with depression, but it is only experimental for tinnitus.
Piccirillo and his colleagues recruited 14 patients who were severely bothered by the ringing in their ears.
All of them received 10 treatments with a magnet over a 2-week period, and another 10 sessions over another 2 weeks using a fake magnet. The order of the 2-week periods was flipped in half of the patients.
After the treatments, the ringing was no better than before.
And when Piccirillo's team asked participants which treatment they thought they received first - the real magnet or the fake magnet - the answers were right only half the time - a result just as good as chance.
Piccirillo told Reuters Health he's not giving up on magnetic therapy. "There's no doubt these magnets work to reorganize brain connections. But we don't know where to put the magnet, and for how long."
In this study, the magnet was placed near the patients' left ear, by the part of the brain that processes sound.
Dr. Robert Folmer, a professor of ear, nose and throat surgery at the Oregon Health and Science University, reviewed the study for Reuters Health.
Folmer, who was not involved in the research, suggested some reasons that could explain why Piccirillo's study didn't work, when previous studies have successfully used magnets to relieve ear ringing.
Two weeks of treatment could be too brief to allow the brain to correct the ringing, he said. And perhaps the left side of the skull is not the correct place to put the magnetic coil in every patient.
"Mostly I was kind of surprised to see how many people were in this study," Folmer said. Fourteen is "a very small number of people."
Piccirillo said his team had planned to include 55 people, but when they realized the treatment wasn't working they decided to stop.
"It's extremely unlikely that you would have seen an effect if we had continued the study," Piccirillo said.
He agreed that the treatment might have been too short. His group is starting a new experiment with 4 weeks of treatments instead of 2 weeks.
Folmer too is soon starting a study of magnetic therapy, in 160 patients with tinnitus. His group will apply the magnet to the left side of the head in some patients, and the right side in others.
The appeal of magnetic therapy is that it is expected to actually reduce the ringing in people's ears.
Currently, the available treatments - such as talk therapy and antidepressant medications - don't get rid of the noise; they only help people cope with it.
Piccirillo's federally-funded study is published in the March issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/03/2 ... z1HclABbl4

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 25 Mar 2011 7:43 am

John Billings wrote: Tinnitus is caused by a "phantom" sound, thought to be the result of mis-wired brain cells.

I believe that most cases of tinnitus are caused by damage to the cilia in the cochlea (inner ear), not by anything in the brain.
--- "Doc" Bovine

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 25 Mar 2011 7:51 am

EB,
I thought damage to the cilia caused loss of hearing, not tinnitus.

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 25 Mar 2011 11:20 am

The researchers still think magnetic therapy could work, if they can find the right part of the brain to apply it to.

Oooops, there goes the piano lessons.

My tinnitus isn't ringing, it's more like screaming with the occasional new twist, where it sounds like a tree full of birds chirping. That one comes and goes, on a regular basis, and the first time I had it, I thought the tree outside the kitchen was full of birds so I went outside to see what was going on, except it was around 9 at night and I was thinking, why would there be birds chirping at night, then there were no birds in sight. Uh oh, the tinnitus has gotten bumped up a notch.

My friend Andy, who makes his living as a guitar player, has a form of tinnitus that when there's a loud "crack" kind of noise, his ears go into oscillation and he holds his ears like he's having a migraine.

Bob Hickish · Post by **Bob Hickish** » 25 Mar 2011 11:59 am

its like CS just stated -- all you need to do is talk about it and
“Uh oh, the tinnitus has gotten bumped up a notch”

go figure -- Not funny but true

Antolina · Post by **Antolina** » 25 Mar 2011 12:09 pm

Hearing aids worked for me.

Greg Cutshaw · Post by **Greg Cutshaw** » 25 Mar 2011 12:39 pm

Huh? Speak up!

I've got a mild case of it but I got out of playing thru monster amps when I started to notice that I was the only one in my circle of friends that couldn't carry on a normal conversation in a crowded room. Hopefully education will save others and help them set their priorities straight.

I do know someone who has mild Tinn. and it drives him crazy cuz it's all he thinks and talks about.

Greg

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 25 Mar 2011 12:46 pm

Mine is louder than people speak, so everybody thinks I'm deaf. Very high pitched whine, beeping, tapping, sound of steady wind blowing through trees. Very annoying!

Storm Rosson · Post by **Storm Rosson** » 25 Mar 2011 1:10 pm

John, one of my close buddys has relatively severe tinnitus which in his words "is about to make him cut his ears out!!" .Have you found anything that helps at all? Thx, ..Stormy

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 25 Mar 2011 1:14 pm

Haven't found anything yet, Stormy. Had no luck with acupuncture. May head down to Chinatown this weekend to talk to my herbal doc again. He's done great things for my arthritic knees.
JB

Storm Rosson · Post by **Storm Rosson** » 25 Mar 2011 1:20 pm

John I'd really preciate u keepin me updated on your, qwest for some kinda relief, either pm me or just keep this thread rolling...thx again....Stormy

Ken Lang · Post by **Ken Lang** » 25 Mar 2011 7:31 pm

I too have it. I'm lucky I guess cause its so ingrained I've gotten to not notice it usually. Times like this it's ringing pretty good. And I've got the have the TV louder to hear it all.

My daughter in law I can't understand hardly at all. That type of voice.

What a relief it would be to get rid of it.

Al Udeen · Post by **Al Udeen** » 25 Mar 2011 7:58 pm

I own a hearing aid repair lab, We will repair any forum members aid/aids for our cost, We can also help you obtain several models for a fraction of what anyone else can. I Hope we can be of help! Thanks! Al Udeen

admin · Post by **b0b** » 25 Mar 2011 10:47 pm

What is the frequency of the ringing that most tinnitus sufferers hear?

I don't know if it's tinnitus or not, but I hear a very high frequency ringing constantly. The loudness varies. I think that the frequency is higher than the sounds I can actually hear. It's in the range of the flyback transformer of old tube TV sets, that I used to be able to hear when I was young.

Is that what tinnitus sounds like?

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 25 Mar 2011 11:18 pm

Bob,
You have mild tinnitus already. It gets worse,much worse. Get real ear protection and use it immediately. You can keep it from getting worse if you put in a little effort now.

Rick Kreuziger · Post by **Rick Kreuziger** » 26 Mar 2011 4:23 am

b0b's description is perfect... exactly what I hear when in a quiet environment.
I never made the connection before, but it does seem to affect hearing others in conversation at times.

I've been looking into in-ear monitors; the band I'm playin' with has a stage volume problem and I end up with significant ringing after a gig.
No amount of discussion has helped with getting it to a reasonable level.

Bill Price · Post by **Bill Price** » 26 Mar 2011 5:09 am

Due to a tire explosion in my face back in October I received delayed stress syndrome and some ear damage. I then ended up with post concusion syndrome which I am still dealing with. The explosion started tinnitus in my right ear. It is not bad but will get worse with age. I sought out treatment and thru a friend of mine found out about Neuromonics. Without going into detail here you can goole it up for additional information.

In Dallas, Texas, Calliers, a division of the University of Texas is using this treatment. The specialist in charge of tinnitus there is Anne Howell. She is one of the leading experts in tinnitus in the United States. I also know Duke University under Beckey Price "no relationship" is using the same treatment.

I am in Stage 2 treatment. In fact I am taking a treatment as I type. It is starting to work. Take a look at this. It is not Snake Oil and mirrors. This is new cutting edge technology that can help us all. I am also told a cure may be close due to so many of our troops comming home from the wars with this stuff. The Govt. is now interested in finding the cure. This would be of major medical importance.

Ed Iarusso · Post by **Ed Iarusso** » 26 Mar 2011 5:14 am

I've got it also. Very annoying at times, especially in a quiet enviroment. Mine seems to amp up and down at times but always there. Mine began when I dove into a friends pool and hit the water at an odd angle
against the side of my head. It seems to have slowly lessened after the initial shock. I can hear it now.
It also affects my ability to concentrate on conversations when there are other conversations going on around. What?...what...?

John De Maille · Post by **John De Maille** » 26 Mar 2011 6:35 am

I'm in the same boat! 54 yrs of loud music, countless rounds of guns going off and 40 yrs of loud tools. Unfortunately, most of it was without ear protection. It wasn't a problem back then and now I'm suffering with it. A cure or lessening of it would be a great boon and appreciated by all.

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 26 Mar 2011 6:43 am

Tennitis is one of the things I brought back from Nam with me. Although Uncle Sam added 10% more to my disability little else was done to give me any help. I got use to living with it and if I did not think about it it wasn't there..But around 1990-91 I had to stop my music because after the gigsI suffered.I resumed after 8-10 years and tho I'm not cured the break helped...I get my monthly visit to the VA but for more serious things..Hello Oh I thought it was the phone.

Kevin Shiflett · Post by **Kevin Shiflett** » 26 Mar 2011 7:49 am

I have had it since I was a kid, my cousin threw a fire cracker and it went off right next to my ear.

The last time I had it checked I have no hearing loss but I do have a constant high pitch ringing that never stops. It high vol situations it can get quite painful. I use an earplug in that ear when playing live.

Have any of you guys tried "Quietus" I hear adds for it all the time but I have also read that it is a scam.

admin · Post by **b0b** » 26 Mar 2011 8:36 am

Bob Hoffnar wrote:Bob,
You have mild tinnitus already. It gets worse,much worse. Get real ear protection and use it immediately. You can keep it from getting worse if you put in a little effort now.

I'm carrying ear plugs in my seat now, and I use them on those rare occasions when I play with a loud band. Mostly I've been doing low-volume gigs so I'm not at risk like I used to be.

Johnny Thomasson · Post by **Johnny Thomasson** » 26 Mar 2011 9:03 am

I have it pretty bad. I'd guess the frequency to be 12-14K range. Mine varies in volume; loud and louder. My doc says there are some things I can try, but chances are, I'll go through a lot of trouble, expense and discomfort and still have it when I'm done. It's constant, so I've learned to ignore it unless I think about it, or the volume is really loud.

Mine is from playing on a high sound pressure level stage for 25+ years, standing 2 feet away from a crash cymbal.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 26 Mar 2011 9:44 am

i've had it for many years. the high pitched 'electrical wires' sound and now some occassional clicking. i thought there was a cricket in the room or something. also when i shake my head i can hear kind of a soft jangly sound.
once in awhile i don't notice any of it if i'm busy doing something, but when everything's quiet it's there. it will intensify on the occassion that alcohol or 'medical' marihoochy is involved.
after radiation treatment a couple of years ago my hearing diminished to where i was concerned, but it has gotten somewhat better now.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 26 Mar 2011 9:50 am

about 20 years ago i had another billion dollar idea.

the cilia rake

i heard tinnitus was caused by the cilia laying down in the cochlea or wherever the heck they are. so i thought someone should devise a rake to stand them back up.
the idea is up for grabs...i'll take 25% of the profits, thanx.

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Latest news on tinnitus therapy

Latest news on tinnitus therapy

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