Tinnitus Help - Stop the Ringing in Your Ears

A U.S.-based company called NeuroSystec has developed a new medicine (NST-001) to combat tinnitus. Overactive nerves thought to cause tinnitus are calmed by the drug, administered by using a drug pump implanted in the ear. Although tinnitus has many causes including damage from loud noise(s) as well as adverse side effects of ototoxic medications (including aspirin), the bottom line is the resulting release of a brain chemical (glutamate) causes nerve cells to become hyperactive . The affected nerves in the ear then send faulty messages to the brain, resulting in tinnitus. The new drug "is thought to block the production of excessive glutamate, in turn reducing this rogue nerve firing. Researchers claim it may even result in the elimination of tinnitus." There's been "a small pilot study on human volunteers in Germany, [and] the majority of patients given the drug reported a significant reduction of tinnitus." However, "when the treatment ended, the

Researchers report that tinnitus sufferers who listened to custom-tailored music over the period of one year reported a significant improvement in their tinnitus — the ringing was not as loud — compared with others who listened to music that was notched at frequencies not corresponding to their ringing frequency. The music technique makes use of recent findings about a possible cause of tinnitus: that noise exposure actually rewires that part of the brain responsible for perceiving sound, and that behavioral training may reverse the problem. Patients simply chose their favorite music. Researchers modified the music by filtering out any frequencies in the music that was the same as the tinnitus noises. Patients then listened to this "notched" music for about 12 hours weekly over the period of one year. Read the full article here . Try Quietum Plus

Teens develop a 60-second cure for noise-induced tinnitus. Two Irish physics students have invented sound therapy for temporary tinnitus. Awarded runner-up prizes at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition this year, their project for the exhibition was to test their sound therapy (a 60-second low frequency tone administered through head phones) on 250 subjects who were experiencing temporary tinnitus. The therapy had a 99 percent success rate. Temporary noise-induced tinnitus is a type of tinnitus that is caused by exposure to loud noises. It usually goes away on its own within a few hours or days. The loud noise causes damage to the inner ear and causes a ringing, buzzing, or hissing sound in the ear. Since it goes away anyway by itself, what's the big deal about this sound therapy? It takes a much shorter time to alleviate symptoms -- and it may point to a "cure" for long-term sufferers. One of the inventors says: "After coming out of discos or listenin

Australian researchers think that some forms of tinnitus can be successfully treated if action is taken immediately upon diagnosis. Basically, if the overactive nerve activity associated with tinnitus is calmed before the pattern becomes established, the condition can be corrected.  Professor Don Robertson of the University of Western Australia says the nerve activity can be dampened in three ways: by surgery on the inner ear; by "cooling down" the ear; and by use of nerve-impulse blocking drugs. From the onset of increased nerve activity, it takes only about six weeks for the brain to begin making the whistling and roaring noises on its own, "independent of input from the ears." Researchers say further work was needed to find ways to exploit this potential window of opportunity. Robertson adds that "although a lot more research needs to be done at this stage, it is a very exciting prospect." Read the full article here . Try Quietum Plus

A  BBC article  from way back in 2008 confirmed that research for a tinnitus cure is ongoing throughout the world. One British audiologist believes a noise-suppressive drug with no side effects will be found within 20 years.  A neurologist in Germany, who believes tinnitus sufferers have overactive hearing cells , is trying to normalize them by creating a magnetic field over the patient's head. The magnetic stimulation reduces neural activity and diminishes unwanted sound. Does it work?  "Only one patient so far has been completely cured but many have found the volume of their tinnitus reduced ." In Belgium, 30 patients have had electrodes implanted into their brains to permanently normalize overactive neurons, with some successful results.  For example, one woman, who had a permanent 80Db ringing in her head and felt suicidal, was the first tinnitus sufferer to have the operation. The outcome?  "The first night I fell asleep. I woke up and didn't hear a thing

Over a decade ago, doctors at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit were saying they can pinpoint the area of the brain that is activated by tinnitus .  By using a special scanner to examine the brain, they hope it will allow more targeted therapies to be developed -- which might include implanting microchips to interfere with tinnitus signals sent out by the brain itself.  Imaging systems currently used to study tinnitus are simply not as sophisticated as the one being used in this study, and can only provide general information.  The research doctor compared the accuracy of the imaging as being "... like having the lights on in only the city of Detroit, compared to having the lights on in the entire state of Michigan." Although not a sure-fire cure, a UK doctor (where 2.3 million people suffer from moderate or severe tinnitus) says " this work could potentially solve a further piece of the tinnitus puzzle ."  Read the full article BBC News . Try Quietum Plus