New Tinnitus Therapy Can Quiet Torturous Ringing In the Ears (scientificamerican.com) 50
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: Constant buzzing and ringing in the ears without any input from the external environment can seriously impair quality of life for the 10 percent of the U.S. population with severe tinnitus. A combination treatment using sound and electrical stimulation may now give hope to sufferers. One cause of tinnitus is probably overactivity of the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) in the brain stem. This is where acoustic signals are processed with other sensory stimuli. So the whistling and ringing in the ears caused by tinnitus is not purely a disease of the brain's auditory system. Up to 80 percent of people with the condition have the so-called somatic form, in which the disturbing noises are generated or altered by head or neck movements. In a recent clinical trial, Susan Shore of the University of Michigan and her colleagues used a new procedure to significantly alleviate the symptoms of tinnitus. "I think the study represents hope for all sufferers," says tinnitus expert Berthold Langguth of the University of Regensburg in Germany, who was not involved with the research.
Shore's team developed a "bisensory" treatment consisting of an in-ear headphone and two externally attached electrodes that delivered a combination of acoustic and electric stimuli to reduce activity in the DCN. The level of stimulation was individualized to each person's tinnitus. The study involved 99 people with somatic tinnitus, each of whom were given a prototype device for home treatment over the course of the study. Participants in the experimental group underwent the procedure for 30 minutes daily for six weeks during the study's first phase. Those in the control group also attached the electrodes near their ear and on their neck, but the electrical impulse was absent -- they received a purely acoustic treatment. Because the electrical impulses were not perceptible, none of the participants knew who belonged to which group.
After a six-week break, which was the second phase of the study, the protocol shifted for phase three: each of the two groups received the opposite treatment for another six weeks. After the first phase, the tinnitus in the experimental group was already reduced significantly, and the treatment provided meaningful clinical benefits. The participants' tinnitus was perceived as only half as loud on average after phase one. Even during the treatment break, the situation continued to improve. The effect lasted up to 36 weeks. "In my estimation, this is a very promising procedure," Langguth says. Shore now wants to move the new method quickly through the approval process and then onto the market.
Shore's team developed a "bisensory" treatment consisting of an in-ear headphone and two externally attached electrodes that delivered a combination of acoustic and electric stimuli to reduce activity in the DCN. The level of stimulation was individualized to each person's tinnitus. The study involved 99 people with somatic tinnitus, each of whom were given a prototype device for home treatment over the course of the study. Participants in the experimental group underwent the procedure for 30 minutes daily for six weeks during the study's first phase. Those in the control group also attached the electrodes near their ear and on their neck, but the electrical impulse was absent -- they received a purely acoustic treatment. Because the electrical impulses were not perceptible, none of the participants knew who belonged to which group.
After a six-week break, which was the second phase of the study, the protocol shifted for phase three: each of the two groups received the opposite treatment for another six weeks. After the first phase, the tinnitus in the experimental group was already reduced significantly, and the treatment provided meaningful clinical benefits. The participants' tinnitus was perceived as only half as loud on average after phase one. Even during the treatment break, the situation continued to improve. The effect lasted up to 36 weeks. "In my estimation, this is a very promising procedure," Langguth says. Shore now wants to move the new method quickly through the approval process and then onto the market.
Hot take (Score:3, Insightful)
Why are concerts that loud? You're guaranteed to have hearing damage without earplugs. So you buy the special attenuating kind for concerts that don't muffle everything. If everyone needs special earplugs then maybe the concert is the problem?
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WHAT!??
Re: Hot take (Score:2)
TURN IT UP! TURN IT UP! -Grandpa Simpson
(People still get Simpsons references, right?)
Re:Hot take (Score:4, Informative)
Why are concerts that loud? You're guaranteed to have hearing damage without earplugs. So you buy the special attenuating kind for concerts that don't muffle everything. If everyone needs special earplugs then maybe the concert is the problem?
I figure the answer is "because concerts are frequently massive".
If you go to a small venue that seats 5 to 10 thousand people, you won't need earplugs.
If you go to a stadium venue and get cheap seats in the back half, you won't need earplugs.
It's when you go to a stadium venue and sit close to the stage, where all the speaker stacks are that you're in danger of hearing-damage.
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It's more than that.
Some bands just play excessively loud. Some play more softly.
Have you ever been to a Motörhead Concert?
I went to one at a venue i frequent for many acts, they were much louder than all other bands I've seen there, and i wished i had remembered earplugs.
An Arlo Guthrie concert isn't a quarter as loud as a heavy metal band, regardless of where you're sitting.
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Elton John is very loud
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If you say so.
Compared to what?
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It's when you go to a stadium venue and sit close to the stage, where all the speaker stacks are that you're in danger of hearing-damage.
Most bands use PA systems with speakers distributed around the audience. So they can mix the mics and instruments and then produce an even, consistent volume over a wide area. If you see speaker stacks onstage, chances are that they are fake [talkbass.com].
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It's when you go to a stadium venue and sit close to the stage, where all the speaker stacks are that you're in danger of hearing-damage.
Most bands use PA systems with speakers distributed around the audience. So they can mix the mics and instruments and then produce an even, consistent volume over a wide area. If you see speaker stacks onstage, chances are that they are fake [talkbass.com].
How do they deal with time-of-flight delay? Sound only moves about 300 m/s and those venues can be pretty big. It may be weird to see the singer's lips out of sync by a few tenth's of a second, but surely the sound from the speaker near to you being out of sync with the sound from the one further away would be weirder. Or are all the distributed speakers at the right volume that you really only hear the nearest one or two, so there is minimal delay effects?
I think small venues are much louder (Score:2)
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Why are concerts that loud?
From my experience as a keyboard player, I think concerts are that loud so that the guitarists can hear themselves. Seriously. They can never get enough volume.
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Why are concerts that loud? You're guaranteed to have hearing damage without earplugs. So you buy the special attenuating kind for concerts that don't muffle everything. If everyone needs special earplugs then maybe the concert is the problem?
I presume you're intending this to be funny, but to take it seriously for a moment, it's because the human ear prefers loud sounds. Fletcher-Munson proved some of this 90 years or so ago. That's why, when comparing two systems, critical listeners will insist on having a sound pressure level meter on hand to ensure the two systems are at the same level.
Interestingly enough, one of the venues in this town has a killer PA system that, frankly, is dangerously loud, but does not distort nearly as much as other
What part does high blood pressure play? (Score:2)
Thereâ(TM)s some very good science presented here, but personal experience says high blood pressure can trigger tinnitus episodes as well.
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The key point is "can", my BP is low and I still have tinnitus.
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[quote]Your average slashdot reader has an AARP card now[/quote]
Doubtful... We all shredded that invite 5 or 6 years ago...
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And we still can't use "preview" after 9pm or remember which ML we're using to post...
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Your average slashdot reader has an AARP card now
Nah, though we do get regular invites for them.
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Now we're getting Tinnitus ad's on Slashdot... I should have seen this coming.
Not sure what you're implying, anyone can get Tinnitus at any age -- either temporary or permanent.
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One of the common clickbait-style ads from low-quality ad networks (which also bring us ads like "do this while traveling alone!" "if you recognize ten of these actors you have brain cancer!" "local woman finds THIS in her shower!"), at least in the US, is "tinnitus sufferers just do this immediately!".
Usually the tinnitus ad has a picture of a person holding a water bottle or watermelon or something to their ear, rather than using some fancy gadget, but maybe the real advice is to use the gadget. Those o
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"Now we're getting Tinnitus ad's on Slashdot... I should have seen this coming."
You would have HEARD it coming, if not for your Tinnitus.
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another technique (Score:1)
From reddit (Score:2)
When this study came up on reddit a few weeks ago, it was pointed out that there was a 90% effectiveness for this non-invasive procedure and how INSANE that was to the person that I believe was an audiophile. Or whatever his credential was. Could have been "Witch doctor" or "Ear doctor" for all I know.
Very exciting indeed.
Picard: There are FOUR lights! (Score:4, Funny)
So as you've noticed, every time you say you hear noise in your ears, we up the voltage then zap you again. This is all a very simple procedure to help you not hear that awful noise anymore.
We're currently right at 10 kilovolts, just so you know. So, do you hear anything
(Spoiler: in the Star Trek episode, he later admits to a peer afterwards that for just an instant, he saw five lights, not four.)
I'd try anything to hear true silence once more (Score:2)
I developed a severe case of tinnitus after a bout of meningitis as a kid, which damaged my auditory nerves among other things. I woke up in hospital at age 11 and haven't stopped hearing banshees screaming in my heads since. It took me some time to learn to live with it. And thankfully, I was a kid, so I didn't quite understand what had happened and that it was for life, so I didn't dive into depression like many tinnitus sufferers do. But I got close.
After many decades, I can cope with the noise just fine
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It's a 14kHz tone for me. All the time. For whatever reason, old CRT TVs would often emit tones around this range. As a kid, I could bike by people's houses and tell if a TV was on in their house. Not sure if there is a connection or if it's just a coincidence though.
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After many decades, I can cope with the noise just fine. But I would like to hear real silence again. Just one more time before I die.
I've had it for 20 years or so, after a severe illness. Oddly, just after I got my first Covid vaccine booster it subsided ... for about two weeks. I have no idea why, and it seems kinda silly that the vaccine had anything to do with it, but anyway it didn't last. Those two weeks were really nice though. fwiw I've since had a couple more doses without any affect on it at all.
There's also Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (Score:3, Informative)
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It never seems to get much attention. It doesn't require any drugs nor expensive equipment.
You provided the symptom and the explanation right there.
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Can you give us a more detailed write-up of what you did? I have a sneaking suspicion that when this comes out it will be an expensive "medical device" with an even more expensive regimen of doctor visits required.
I basically used the material available on this site: https://tinnitus.org/ [tinnitus.org] (look in the papers section) and an mp3-player with headphones near my bed. That was about it.
You could buy expensive books if you wanted to but I didn't. If you are too far gone down the rabbit hole (for example when you consider suicide), you could follow TRT-courses and probably need professional help and shouldn't do this entirely on your own. Most western countries have these.
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Can you give us a more detailed write-up of what you did? I have a sneaking suspicion that when this comes out it will be an expensive "medical device" with an even more expensive regimen of doctor visits required.
I basically used the material available on this site: https://tinnitus.org/ [tinnitus.org] (look in the papers section) and an mp3-player with headphones near my bed. That was about it.
You could buy expensive books if you wanted to but I didn't. If you are too far gone down the rabbit hole (for example when you consider suicide), you could follow TRT-courses and probably need professional help and shouldn't do this entirely on your own. Most western countries have these.
What mp3 files did you use? I'm struggling to understand what you did, you read some of the research papers on the download section of the website and figured out certain sounds to listen to in bed? Any more information would be extremely appreciated
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Can you give us a more detailed write-up of what you did? I have a sneaking suspicion that when this comes out it will be an expensive "medical device" with an even more expensive regimen of doctor visits required.
I basically used the material available on this site: https://tinnitus.org/ [tinnitus.org] (look in the papers section) and an mp3-player with headphones near my bed. That was about it.
You could buy expensive books if you wanted to but I didn't. If you are too far gone down the rabbit hole (for example when you consider suicide), you could follow TRT-courses and probably need professional help and shouldn't do this entirely on your own. Most western countries have these.
What mp3 files did you use? I'm struggling to understand what you did, you read some of the research papers on the download section of the website and figured out certain sounds to listen to in bed? Any more information would be extremely appreciated
I'm not going to try to explain it in detail here. You can read the principles of the therapy on the site. Basically you have to retrain your limbic system (this is a concept psychologists are all aware of) so it starts to ignore the tinnitus. If you want to know why and how that works: read the information on the site. It's not that complicated. The sound you should use is something very personal as you have to chose sound that makes you calm. In my case that was an mp3 of nature sounds but every case is d
Note the conflict of interest disclosure (Score:5, Informative)
Source [jamanetwork.com]
To boost credibility of this study to acceptable levels, independent groups must replicate the study and find the same results.
Tinnitus (Score:4, Interesting)
I have tinnitus. I have two tones in one ear, and one in the other. Somewhere around 8khz, but they are three distinct tones. I've always felt this was something correctable, because as TFS mentions, I'm one of those for whom physical changes (like gritting my teeth) affects the intensity of the sound. I've tried some "treatments" like tapping on the back of my head, but that doesn't work for me. Generally I've learned to ignore it, but I can see how it would nearly drive some people insane depending on their mental state. Day-to-day it's not bad, but at times when it's very quiet (ambiently) that's when it stands out the most. Which is why I like to sleep with a fan or something running, because it helps cover the noise. I can see how one of the sensory deprivation type pods would do nothing but make me focus on the blasted tinnitus, which would be frustrating.
It's not clear to me when this happened or why. I played keyboard in a band for many years, but used noise canceling headphones. I race dirtbikes, I use power tools on occasion. There's just a plethora of things that could have caused this, or it may simply just be something that happened spontaneously. I have a hunch it may have been from brief usages of power tools, like power miters and the like, if it was indeed from external loud sounds, as I think those kinds of tones were produced by those tools.
Re: Tinnitus (Score:2)
You could try jaw/neck muscle relaxation techniques. I had a sudden onset of loud tinnitus in one ear a couple of years ago, without any apparent reason. Nothing physically wrong was found, but what helped was massaging technique I learned from a pro I went to. He was able to pinpoint a nerve around my neck and shoulder that I needed to press. It was odd how the sound really changed after and during the session. It has taken a longer while for it to subside and change in quality, and I also did the jaw exer
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I'm right there with ya man, with multiple tones in that range in both ears. The best way to describe it to most people is that it sounds like I'm standing in the shower with water running full blast.....ALL the time, every single day.
To that end, standing in the shower is the best time of day for me, because "almost" masks the sound in my ears. Almost.
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Generally I've learned to ignore it,
That's probably the most effective treatment.
As a long time single sided deaf person and now a cochlear implant user, I can say that the brain plays a much larger role in hearing than most people realize.
I'd cut my left foot off to make Tinnitus go away (Score:5, Informative)
I got Tinnitus in 1991, while working at a Garage. It was the air lifts and tire machines that did it, spewing that loud, hissing air release at intense volumes. I never wore hearing protection back then. HUGE mistake. If you work in a loud environment, please, PLEASE wear hearing protection. If you see a concert, PLEASE wear hearing protection. If you work around repetitive noises, PLEASE wear hearing protection. Basically, PLEASE just wear hearing protection when warranted.
I remember the day I realized that the ringing in my ears was not going to stop. I'd never been that depressed before or since. It was devastating the ringing is still the loudest thing I hear 100% of the time, to this day. There is no such thing as silence and I've lived with that fact now for 32 years. I seriously hope this works.
Please wear hearing protection.
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This new the
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I used to work in a warehouse with a loud conveyor belt, and I was a fork truck operator. Every day, I wore earplugs. On more that one occasion, my boss ordered me to remove my earplugs, insisting that I wouldn't be able to hear the horns of other fork trucks, and that posed a serious safety issue to myself and everyone else. I absolutely refused.
The wonderful irony is that every time we had a conversation, I was wearing my ear protection and could understand every word he said perfectly. I think the gu
Mediation (Score:2)
Yes I know. (Score:1)