Electrical Stimulation of the Cochlea for Treatment of Chronic Disabling Tinnitus

[Joeseph Stope]

Please do not tell me to relax. Even if the intent is positive, my tinnitus has progressively worsened week by week.

It has now become reactive to any noise, no matter how quiet, and to almost any type of body movement. This includes things like sniffling, talking, and sometimes even just moving.

Sorry to hear that your situation is so difficult. I hope you can find an ENT who can help, or perhaps some fellow sufferers can recommend a good one near you.

From your avatar, I see you joined in December 2024, so I presume your tinnitus began around that time. That was only about a month ago, which means there is more hope for you than for someone like me. Hang in there.

One piece of advice I remember is to avoid loud noise and also avoid complete silence. At night, I use a noise machine that plays sounds like water, wind, or nature, along with the radio. Sometimes I leave it on all night.

It seems like Nature takes the minimum of what it needs, so I usually get about five hours of sleep a night, sometimes a little more.

Later Edit:

Just to follow up on this:

1. The way forward is to gradually accustom yourself to sounds. ENTs typically recommend sound therapy for this, which involves listening to sounds you find somewhat pleasant—such as white noise from a machine or similar devices. Some people compare it to using earplugs but with sound. This approach has a reputation for being relatively straightforward. Your local tinnitus specialist or ENT would be the best place to start.

2. I personally use a radio, and sometimes I leave it on all night if I fall asleep and forget to turn it off. It has a lovely, soft sound and is an old-fashioned model from the 1960s or 1970s.

A word of caution: be mindful of loud noises like chainsaws, 750cc motorbikes, ambulance sirens, and similar sounds, as they can be harmful.

I hope this helps.

 

[Mathilda]

If I'm not mistaken, there is another study in Belgium testing electrical stimulation of the cochlea:

Evaluating How a Tinnitus Implant Affects Tinnitus Loudness in Adults with Chronic Tinnitus and Varying Levels of Hearing Loss (TINIS)

 

[Nick47]

If I'm not mistaken, there is another study in Belgium testing electrical stimulation of the cochlea:

@Mathilda, this is a duplicate. It is already on here.

 

[Mathilda]

@Mathilda, this is a duplicate. It is already on here.

@Nick47, I wasn't aware of it, even though I read through the entire thread.

If I may ask, where exactly is it already available?

 

[Tmc]

If I'm not mistaken, there is another study in Belgium testing electrical stimulation of the cochlea:

Evaluating How a Tinnitus Implant Affects Tinnitus Loudness in Adults with Chronic Tinnitus and Varying Levels of Hearing Loss (TINIS)

This study is exciting to me. The company sponsoring it is Cochlear, which is a large, publicly listed company.

 

[Nick47]

@Nick47, I wasn't aware of it, even though I read through the entire thread.

If I may ask, where exactly is it already available?

It is the trial by Cochlear Limited, which was first posted in October or November of last year. It involves a tinnitus implant.

 

[hey]

I reached out to the researchers about participating in the trials, but you have to live in Belgium or the Netherlands to be eligible, which ruled me out. If any members are from those countries, they mentioned that they are still recruiting, in case you are interested in joining.

 

[Fields]

I reached out to the researchers about participating in the trials, but you have to live in Belgium or the Netherlands to be eligible, which ruled me out. If any members are from those countries, they mentioned that they are still recruiting, in case you are interested in joining.

I haven't been keeping up with this thread, but I live in the Netherlands.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Nes]

I reached out to the researchers about participating in the trials, but you have to live in Belgium or the Netherlands to be eligible, which ruled me out. If any members are from those countries, they mentioned that they are still recruiting, in case you are interested in joining.

You also have to be proficient in Dutch. I would have participated otherwise

 

[Mathilda]

It is the trial by Cochlear Limited, which was first posted in October or November of last year. It involves a tinnitus implant.

Hello @Nick47,

I still could not find it in this thread. Maybe it is mentioned somewhere less obvious. English is not my first language, so it is possible I missed that information.

Anyway, I still think there are posts that are much more off-topic or trivial than mentioning, perhaps again, that there is another study on tinnitus implants besides the ones from Mayo Clinic, Olze, and Djalilian.

 

[Nick47]

Hello @Nick47,

I still could not find it in this thread. Maybe it is mentioned somewhere less obvious. English is not my first language, so it is possible I missed that information.

Anyway, I still think there are posts that are much more off-topic or trivial than mentioning, perhaps again, that there is another study on tinnitus implants besides the ones from Mayo Clinic, Olze, and Djalilian.

Evaluating How a Tinnitus Implant Affects Tinnitus Loudness in Adults with Chronic Tinnitus and Varying Levels of Hearing Loss (TINIS)

 

[Fields]

I've gone through the available information, but I'm a bit hesitant about the procedure because I've had surgery in the past for which they had to drill through the mastoid bone.

I don't want to mess anything up in that specific area.

Are there any preliminary studies on this specific approach, by the way?

 

[Mathilda]

Evaluating How a Tinnitus Implant Affects Tinnitus Loudness in Adults with Chronic Tinnitus and Varying Levels of Hearing Loss (TINIS)

@Nick47, well, this is certainly a duplicate now, as it is already part of this thread.

In the meantime, I found the other Tinnitus Talk thread that focuses exclusively on this study. It would have been helpful if you had posted a link, so that someone who is clearly not aware of it could take a look at the discussion.

Here it is:

Evaluating How a Tinnitus Implant Affects Tinnitus Loudness in Adults with Chronic Tinnitus and Varying Levels of Hearing Loss (TINIS)

 

[hey]

I've gone through the available information, but I'm a bit hesitant about the procedure because I've had surgery in the past for which they had to drill through the mastoid bone.

I don't want to mess anything up in that specific area.

Are there any preliminary studies on this specific approach, by the way?

@Fields, hey, if you feel like it is not too bad and you are managing to get through each day, then I would not suggest doing the clinical trial.

If you have any questions about the procedure, you can email them. I am sure they will get back to you. They answered me within a day.

 

[RingerBell]

In the Tinnitus Quest Q&A, Dr. Djalilian stated that with the electrode placement his research group is considering, the device would stimulate the higher frequencies.

Does the same logic apply to the other research groups and the devices they are planning? Would those devices primarily stimulate the cochlea and auditory nerve in the high-frequency region? Or do we know at this point if there are other electrode placements that could reach deeper toward the apex of the cochlea and target the auditory nerve in the low-frequency range?

 

[natashann]

In this study on electrical stimulation of the round window, the majority of participants had a tinnitus tone at 5 kHz and experienced improvements. I know that is not a low tone, but at least it shows an effect below the extended high-frequency range.

Maybe a combination of an implant and the use of the Susan Shore device could bring relief to those who have multitonal tinnitus across different frequencies.

 

[Nick47]

the majority of participants had a tinnitus tone at 5 kHz

Hi @natashann, I had a quick read. The table shows that all participants had a tinnitus frequency of either 4000 Hz or 8000 Hz. The average was around 5.5.

 

[natashann]

Yes, @Nick47, you are right. Sorry, I am not used to reading medical papers. Still, I just wanted to say that it can help with frequencies below the extended ones.

 

[Nick47]

Sorry, I am not used to reading medical papers. Still, I just wanted to say that it can help with frequencies below the extended ones.

@natashann, it's not a concern. At least you do read them. I wouldn't focus on the frequencies of hearing loss or tinnitus as a way to understand how this works. The human trials will collect that data.

If it were a cochlear implant, then that would be important, but this is not.