If You Had To Bet Your Life On It, Would You Say Tinnitus Is Cured By 2030?

[Lloyd Carter]

Would you say Tinnitus is cured by 2030? I'd bet YES!

 

[Rina]

I would hope so

 

[jeannie]

I hope it will !!

 

[Cheza]

Cured? No. Possibly a treatment for some relief, a reduction in volume, but I still wouldn't bet my life on that either.

 

[Sailboardman]

I wouldn't bet my life on any medical or scientific prediction.

 

[dan]

I would bet on 3015.

 

[Bertman]

I too don't think there will be a "cure" but I do believe and hope that we will see some treatments that will help in reducing the volume

 

[linearb]

I think we may have more treatments available, to provide some relief to some subset of the tinnitus population. A true cure, though? That seems very unlikely to me. 15 years is not long as far as medical innovation; anything which will be on the mass market in 2030 already exists in prototype form now.

 

[dan]

I think we may have more treatments available, to provide some relief to some subset of the tinnitus population. A true cure, though? That seems very unlikely to me. 15 years is not long as far as medical innovation; anything which will be on the mass market in 2030 already exists in prototype form now.

What about breakthrough discoveries?

 

[glynis]

Hope so or a brain transplant :-D

 

[Sailboardman]

If only they could clone cochlear's and do replacement nano-surgery, those of us with hearing loss derived T, could most likely, live in peace & quiet.

 

[erik]

I agree with earlier posts. Cure is kind of a loaded word. Of the 100s of existing medical conditions, there are few cures; however, there are many treatments. And almost all of the 20th century cures have been for deadly diseases which T is not. To completely rid something is very rare. To keep it in check, is easier and more realistic.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kdries/12-deadly-diseases-modern-medicine-has-cured

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_medicine_and_medical_technology

 

[noisebox]

treatment yes, hopefully before 2020

 

[linearb]

If only they could clone cochlear's and do replacement nano-surgery, those of us with hearing loss derived T, could most likely, live in peace & quiet.

this assumes that neuroplastic changes which develop over a period of years following acoustic trauma, will evaporate overnight. That is, people with chronic T have often been shown to develop sensory processing deficits in other parts of the brain, which might continue to cause problems of one kind or another even if the audio issues were fixed.

 

[Sailboardman]

I agree @linearb, this condition runs deep and manifests itself, into many portions of the brains emotional and reasoning centers. Probably the sole obstacle, in finding a "cure all."

In my case, I had either a virus or acoustic trauma, then T showed up about a month later. Somehow, my brain had a delay in recognizing the physical condition, before creating a mental one. However, I believe if I could clearly hear those lost high frequency sounds again, that just might mask or cancel, most of my T out? Sort of a new anaylisis taking place, between my brain and newfound hearing capabilities. A reversal of what created the T in the first place.

Anyway, it's all conjecture at this point, because I'm fairly sure, we may never understand the full complexity of T, for quite sometime.

 

[uae96]

The human brain is too complex it's hard to understand it , that's why some people are so hard to understand

 

[Richard zurowski]

Sooner the better for all of us .

 

[linearb]

Anyway, it's all conjecture at this point, because I'm fairly sure, we may never understand the full complexity of T, for quite sometime.

Trying to fully understand a perceptual phenomeon might be impossible -- this book makes a pretty good case for the idea that total self-awareness is more or less impossible, which I tend to agree with. So, that means the big questions like "what is 'I'?" aren't anything we're going to be able to pin down in a lab... and in some very basic ways, I think "what is tinnitus?" is more or less the same question as "what is 'I'"?

What that leaves us with, basically, is black box hacking. We can analyze the output of the system (tinnitus intensity, tones, etc) and analyze the inputs (food, novel drugs, rTMS, whatever), and then try to understand the correlation between input and output.

Having spent a lot of time reading about this, it seems like one thing we do know about tinnitus is that it's really complex. It's a perceptual phenomeon that arises often but not always as a result of an input deficit, but only in some minority of people who have that deficit.

I guess the silver lining to all this is that conceptualizing these things in this way, has allowed me to have some unique and interesting insights into my own mind as a result of the tinnitus. I'd happily trade them away for silence, sure, but you know, if 100,000,000 years of human evolution gives you lemons, you may as well add some sugar to it...

 

[RaZaH]

I guess in some way I am in fact betting my life on it​

 

[LadyDi]

I basically agree with many of the above responses. My take:

* Tinnitus is incredibly complex and, like many brain disorders, will continue to perplex scientists.
* When it comes to tinnitus treatments, one size never will fit all.
* "Cure" indeed is a loaded word, in my opinion. I don't believe there ever will be a "cure" for tinnitus.
* I do think there will be greatly improved treatments to manage tinnitus by 2030.
* I also think there will be better interventions for "acute" tinnitus by 2030. Chronic T will remain a bear.
* I would be very happy if we had better education and prevention campaigns for tinnitus by 2030, sparing some
people from getting it in the first place. Will that happen? Unsure.

 

[Nucleo]

this assumes that neuroplastic changes which develop over a period of years following acoustic trauma, will evaporate overnight. That is, people with chronic T have often been shown to develop sensory processing deficits in other parts of the brain, which might continue to cause problems of one kind or another even if the audio issues were fixed.

I completely agree with this. I even have doubts that even restoring hearing will make T go away. After all, some people with seemingly pristine hearing can still have T.

 

[suera]

no.

an audiologist told me a few years ago that tinnitus was like a 10,000 piece puzzle and we have 2 pieces.

 

[noisebox]

audiologists don't know anything

 

[linearb]

audiologists don't know anything

that's just, like, your opinion, man

 

[Cheza]

audiologists don't know anything

I wouldn't say they "don't know anything." But they certainly don't know enough. Who does?

 

[LadyDi]

My audiologist, who has doctorate, knew plenty. More than my ENT, at least when it came to tinnitus. She, and any other good doctor I came across, were as frustrated as I was that there aren't answers yet to the questions we all are asking.

 

[jimH]

Hope so or a brain transplant :-D

I'm already on the waiting list for one....

 

[TheGagagirl1234]

I hope so but I won't bet my life on it because that sounds very unlikely.

 

[JohnK]

Every day has to be one day closer!

 

[valeri]

for some, me included, it just won't matter anymore
15 years here or there who cares!