Lenire — Bimodal Stimulation Treatment by Neuromod

I saw an interview once with Ross O'Neill where he said tinnitus patients with hyperacusis had better outcomes than non-hyperacusis patients with tinnitus when using Lenire. He wasn't super clear what those better outcomes were - an improvement in hyperacusis, tinnitus, or both. Needless to say, I was left hanging and disappointed...

 

When you say many severe sufferers, do you mean 3 or 4, or more like 30-40? I know you have had tinnitus much longer than me, suffered longer, and had more conversations than me, so I trust your judgment and respect your commentary. I wonder how many you have encountered.

 

Having good and bad days is normal. With or without 'treatment'.

 

Who knows! Whenever they start selling them, or I get bored enough to try to make my own. I've changed jobs like three times since I did that trial, and now I work with a bunch of CS/EE nerds, many of whom have tinnitus, but we're all too busy doing other stuff so far for side projects mucking with Arduino. Everyone I've shown the basic paper to has agreed it would be pretty simple to replicate the process in hardware; different people have different views on the risk profile.

I have dropped the Gabapentin entirely and cut my Klonopin dose by between 12% and 25% over the last six months. I think my tinnitus is different and subjectively louder, but so far, I'm not thinking about it much more.

It's entirely possible to do this, but it's just dumb to me as a professional code monkey. A wire solves this problem with zero compensation. Using an overloaded and fundamentally not-that-great stack of protocols like (whatever version of) Bluetooth and coding a technical ouroboros around it to avoid latency that you wouldn't need to adjust for in the first place if you were using a wire seems like a peak "cool tech idiocy."

I haven't seen any compelling evidence aside from anecdotes that any of these things can have a permanently negative effect, and my conversations with the UMich staff about both their tech and Lenire (specifically) make me think it's likely to be safe for me. I have no comment on other people's situations, and yes, "likely" is doing some work there.

I have $5000 sitting in an HSA that I could throw at this tomorrow. The nearest place that provides this is a 4-hour round trip. It's a 2-visit deal at least, so it's been life getting in the way, not money -- very busy with work lately and trying to help do organization and jamming with the local clique of electronic musicians and guitarists I know. I'm behind on mowing and every other piece of property maintenance that I am not paying someone else to do for me. Both kids are shifting from their school year routines to summer.

So, it's been a mess around here lately. I just got back from interstate travel, and I'm about to start Ketamine therapy (not really at all with tinnitus in mind; I am dealing with substantial emotional turmoil around a situation with aging relatives and them having to move). I don't really like crossing the streams of doing a ton of stuff at once.

I think this will happen at some point in 2024. But I'm also very cynical as to the results, which means I'm not in a screaming hurry, but also, if I get any positive results, I'll be as surprised as anyone else

$5000 is a lot of money. That's like ten big grocery trips for our family of 4 (or 20 trips if you go back to 2019 prices ), but compared to the amount of money I spent on my tinnitus from 2010-2017, it's a drop in the bucket.

I bet I spent $10,000 doing that UMich study; I just wanted to pay to be a cutting-edge lab rat. (The trial was free. 10-15 trips from DC -> MI with multi-day stays attached to them were definitely not free). I heard that in subsequent studies, they did not allow people from very far out of the area; I was the only one, and maybe the logistical hassles I encountered a couple of times made them rethink that wisdom. Or, perhaps they quickly could enroll a bunch of local people, I don't know.

I lost touch with the UMich lab in about 2020, and I don't presently have contact information for anyone there besides Dr. Shore. I might reach out to her again at the end of the year.

 

Does anyone experience serious brain fog after Lenire?

 

This might be a scam. Is this guy a paid actor for Lenire? He said, "tinnitus is zero. I hear nothing."

It looks like different new organizations and even the Neuromod X account were linked to this guy's story. Looks suspicious.

Breakthrough treatment for those who suffer...

 

The audiologist apparently quotes an 83 percent success rate.

 

Personally, I don’t think these are fake...

Regardless, I’ve come across enough testimonials that I 100 percent believe are real. One from the founder of the Monzo credit card, who would absolutely not be inclined to lie due to the damage it could do to his reputation.

Sadly, I’ve come across too many reports where it has made the condition a lot worse. And it doesn’t seem that Neuromod is doing anything to stop the adverse results.

 

It's a pretty reputable dude. Partner at YCombinator, arguably the best accelerator/incubator of the ZIRP era.

 

According to this page, YCombinator has funded Auricle in 2024.

YCombinator doesn't seem to have funded Neuromod, though. I used this search. I was hoping YCombinator had funded Neuromod. That would have been a pleasant conflict of interest...

 

Do you mean this?

 

I am corrected to be a fool. Their fault for choosing that name that causes confusion!

 

Mostly placebo, but that guy didn't say his tinnitus just improved; he's saying his tinnitus is completely gone, "zero," and "I hear nothing."

 

Lenire can NEVER make a THI of 75 to a THI of 15-20.

If Tom Blomfield really did have a THI of 75, he probably wouldn't have been able to work for three years and would have sunk into depression.

(I tested Lenire here in Munich back in 2021; it did nothing, zero.)

 

What amazing precision! All scammers claim an 80% success rate. I heard an 80% success rate for TRT and an 80% success rate for Lenire. Isn't that amazing?

 

And don't forget 85-90% NeuroMedCare.com that you pointed out recently:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/posts/710522

 

Lenire is not a scam. It just doesn’t work for everyone.

 

Lenire is not a scam. It just doesn’t work for anyone.

 

...and 8 out of 10 cat owners:

Whiskas Cat Food - 1987 UK Advert

 

The key takeaway is "of those who expressed a preference" — most did not. People are so easy to fool!

 

TENT-A3 Publication:

→ Combining sound with tongue stimulation for the treatment of tinnitus: a multi-site single-arm controlled pivotal trial

 

I’d be interested in an analysis of whether this data changes the overall outlook on Lenire as a tool. I also (speculating here) wonder if Dr. Lim’s role with the company may be to continue to develop Lenire to more closely mirror the signal timing that the Shore device uses (i.e., are they / will they be targeting the second mode of stimulation to be more than just a “distraction for the brain?)

 

I’m quite surprised by the low number of worsening cases in the study and even more surprised that they were resolved during the trial. From my experience, I have come across just as many stories about Lenire causing a worsening as success stories.

One positive takeaway from this is the relatively small sample size—only 112 participants. This should help ease any concerns that the Auricle trial was too small to draw meaningful conclusions.

 

Does this change your opinion about Lenire at all?

 

You’re the funniest person I’ve seen on Tinnitus Talk. I’m glad you’re here with us, but at the same time, I wish you didn’t have to be here and go through this pain. Still, I want to thank you for the humor in your posts. Even when I’m feeling my worst, I stumble upon something you’ve written in a random thread, and it makes me laugh. I’m really glad you’re around, my friend

 

The results show it is effective in reducing tinnitus distress in some patients. No evidence of loudness, so in that respect NO.

 

The Belgian newspapers do not mention that. They wrote that Lenire sometimes cures tinnitus. Today, this is all over the papers and radio.

 

Heh, I don't think anyone has ever described me as a funny person, much less funniest! Rather surly, cynical, and always complaining.

Well, thank you!

 

Below is from the Brai3n clinic, one of the centers involved in the trial.

So, 6% of the population will find this effective.

 

How did they arrive at 10 percent being eligible? I’ve looked at their website but couldn’t find any publications.