Auditory Nerve Sedation for Correct Diagnoses

[Ian Mac]

So my ear is making noises, maybe it's my nerve, maybe it's my brain. Doctors don't know how to tell yet, until now!

Through a process called Auditory Nerve Sedation neurologist are able to temporarily numb the auditory nerve while the patient is still awake. By using this technique, tinnitus researchers and patients now have a way to finally know the actual location of their damage and proceed with the proper treatment. If the patient continues to perceive tinnitus after the nerve has been numbed then it can be assumed the tinnitus is either coming from the brain or the other ear/nerve. If the patient experiences a relief from their tinnitus upon sedating the nerve then it is clear that the damage lies within the ear/nerve. This is relevant for future treatments which will be able to specifically target each individual part of the ear and nerve, or in the case of vestibular nerve section.

 

[Beste]

Is there any link to this study?

 

[Ears Hurt]

This sounds like a very risky procedure to find out something they can't fix or help with anyway.

 

[undecided]

Interesting... Any source for this? Who performs this procedure?
I did a quick google search and I didn't find anything relevant... There is a wikipedia article about auditory brainstem response but that's not quite the same.

 

[Ian Mac]

To be honest this is a imaginary procedure from my *lack of* dreams last night.. Sorry. But this does seem like it could have applications in tinnitus, and definitely would help in minieres before they cut the vestibucochlear nerve for good they could numb it first and see if it works before killing the nerve... Again sorry but I was thinking of cutting my auditory nerve in another country and this test could tell me if it would work before I go ahead with it.

 

[Ian Mac]

The hurdles would be 1) the nerve can only be accessed by removing a portion of skull behind the ear, the same surgery as acoustic swanooma. 2) the patient would need to be awake because numbing the nerve for extended periods could damage/kill the nerve.

 

[Beste]

To be honest this is a imaginary procedure from my *lack of* dreams last night.. Sorry.

Maaaannn...

 

[Ian Mac]

Hey wouldn't it be possible to numb/sedate the auditory nerve in order to find out once and for all of tinnitus is coming from the brain or the ears? I mean the nerve is hard to get to and requires surgery but hey it's the 21st century, Man.

 

[Beste]

I know you are desperate about your T but what would it make to know if it is from the ears or the head when we have no cure for both of them. Man, we even do not have any treatmen for this thing.

 

[PaulBe]

I thought that argument was largely closed when it was proven that surgically severing the auditory nerve failed to stop the perception of tinnitus.

Everything should always be open for revisiting though.

 

[Ian Mac]

If you sedate the nerve and the noises stop then you could permanently stop the noises by severing the nerve. If someone were going to kill themselves maybe it would make sense to sedate the nerve and if it stops the noises for them, then perhaps rather than commit suicide severing the nerve would be the solution for this case.

 

[Steve Hubert]

Yeah, severing the nerve has already been tried and basically just leaves one deaf but still with tinnitus without being able to mask it.

 

[PaulBe]

Well, I suppose severing the nerve still leaves a now-deranged nerve with all its specialized function leading into the brain. As the brain doesn't hear, but instead perceives and interprets, then maybe the the severed end of the nerve leading into the brain is generating abnormal electrical activity that gets delivered to the auditory centre, and is processed as sound even though it hasn't actually been heard via the normal channels? Classic phantom sound?

Don't really know, don't know how such surgery was done, or would be done.