Tinnitus Awareness Week, February 3-9th 2014
Greetings,
As a fellow tinnitus stakeholder, I thought it was important to write to you and remind you that this week is 'Tinnitus Awareness Week' (Feb 3-9th, 2014).
The Irish Tinnitus Association (ITA), in conjunction with the British Tinnitus Association (BTA), will be raising awareness of Tinnitus throughout this week. The aim of the ITA and BTA is to be a focal point for giving support and assistance to those who suffer from the condition.
Neuromod Devices Limited was delighted to support the British Society of Audiology (BSA) and the British Association of Audiology (BAA) events this year, where we unveiled mutebuttonTM, the world's first multi-sensory tinnitus treatment.
We have been inundated with enquiries about mutebuttonTM and would like to thank you for your interest. We fully understand how eager people are to know more about the progress to date. Let me reassure you that we are working hard towards making our unique treatment available and hope to launch mutebuttonTM in Q3 2014. We promise that you will be the first to know of its availability.
In the meantime, we enclose a list of responses to the most frequently asked questions that we receive.
Please keep in touch with us for further updates about mutebuttonTM.
Best wishes,
Dr. Ross O'Neill
Managing Director – Neuromod Devices Ltd.Frequently Asked Questions
What is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a common condition in which people experience a sound or noise which does not have a
legitimate external source.
One in ten adults in Europe and in the USA has significant prolonged tinnitus, which is reported to
have a severe effect on their quality of life as well as that of their families.
Tinnitus is known to occur as a concomitant of almost all the dysfunctions that involve the human
auditory system but is most often associated with a sensory-neural or congenital hearing loss.
Common risk factors include administration of certain medications, middle ear disease,
abnormalities in the vascular system, and ear surgery.
Tinnitus is broadly categorised into 'subjective' and 'objective' tinnitus. Subjective tinnitus is
described as a sound or noise that has no external source and is audible only by the patient.
Objective tinnitus, although quite rare, is an audible noise that emanates from the ear and is often
measurable audiologically. Studies have shown that subjective tinnitus is most often associated with
a high-frequency (noise or age-related) hearing loss.
Treatment available for tinnitus?
Due to the subjective nature of this disorder and general lack of understanding of the underlying
pathophysiology, treatment of tinnitus has been limited, controversial, and quite often unsuccessful.
Currently both pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments are used for managing tinnitus.
The range from different forms of Sound Therapy (hearing aids & maskers); Tinnitus Retraining
Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Neuro-feedback, and various forms of Electrical
Stimulation. These therapies tend to provide symptomatic relief for a lot individuals, but for others
they tend not to be overly effective in eliminating tinnitus.
How does the mutebutton treatment work?
The mutebuttonTM device streams audio through headphones or wireless (Bluetooth/ 2.4GHz)
hearing aids while simultaneously stimulating touch receptors in the tongue. Multisensory stimuli
have been shown to elicit stronger auditory cortical responses and to promote greater levels of
neural plasticity and conditioning than auditory stimulus alone. It utilizes neural plasticity to reverse
the neuropathologies that occur after hearing-loss and give rise to the symptoms of tinnitus.
MutebuttonTM is a portable device that enables patients to personally manage and self-administer
their 30-minute daily treatment sessions.
What were the results from the clinical Study?
We saw a statistically significant reduction of 40-50% in tinnitus loudness over 10 weeks. 54 patients
were deemed eligible to participate and 51 completed the study. Results from the study will be
available via the mutebuttonTM website (
www.mutebutton.ie) once they have been published.
Due to commercial reasons we have not yet published the results from our study. However, results
from other international research groups are beginning to experimentally validate our approach
(Gloeckner et al., 2013).
When is the device due to be launched and will it be launched globally?
The mutebuttonTM device is due to be launched in the UK and Ireland in Q3 2014 and rolled out
across Europe soon after.
How/when will people been informed about the launch?
We will be promoting the launch of mutebuttonTM through our website (
www.mutebutton.ie) and by
email through our mailing list (register by email on
info@mutebutton.ie) about a month before
launch date.
How will people purchase/avail of the device?
The device will be available through selected clinical practices and through our websites
(
www.mutebutton.ie (Ireland) and
www.mutebutton.co.uk (UK)).
Can I purchase the device through the UK/Ireland if I live in Spain?
Yes, the device will be available through selected clinical practices and through our websites
(
www.mutebutton.ie and
www.mutebutton.co.uk).
How long should someone use the device before they see a reduction in their symptoms?
Our clinical studies show that using mutebuttonTM for 60-minute daily treatment session results in a
statistically significant improvement in tinnitus.
I registered for 'Future studies' on the website but have not been called, was I not eligible?
We have not yet started to recruit for future studies, but hope to do so in due course. We have
asked people to register their details for future studies and will keep people informed through our
website (
www.mutebutton.ie) and by email once confirmed.
When is the next study due to run?
The next study is planned for the second half of 2014.
Why are you only looking at people who have tinnitus and high frequency hearing loss, I have
tinnitus but my hearing is normal?
There is a recognised correlation between 'high frequency hearing loss' and neural hyperactivity that
is believed to give rise to tinnitus. mutebuttonTM targets this hyperactivity in order to reverse the
symptoms of tinnitus.
I live in the UK can I apply for the study or do I have to live in Ireland?
Practicalities of the study would mean attending clinics in Ireland periodically and therefore
residence outside of commuting distance of the clinic centres would make participation impractical.
If you are experiencing tinnitus or you have experienced a change in your tinnitus/hearing and have
not had a medical assessment, we would urge you to talk to your GP as you may need to be referred
to an Audiologist or ENT consultant for further investigation.
REFERENCES
Gloeckner, C.D., Smith, B.T., Markovitz, C.D., Lim, H.H., "Synchronized Body and Acoustic
Stimulation Induces Auditory Plasticity: Implications for a New Noninvasive Tinnitus Treatment"
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