New University of Michigan Tinnitus Discovery — Signal Timing

[Andy Busuttil]

This looks promising as a 'symptomatic' relief. However, the real cure will come when an injection of stem cells into the affected area becomes a reality and the lost processors are re-grown.

In the meantime, I think any advance is great though and it's great that tinnitus is being taken seriously in some quarters.

It's one disability that can't be seen or heard, except by the sufferer, and as such proves a failure of medical practice to cure it and that is one thing medicos, at least here in Australia, really do not like. It's when they fail that they tend to put it back on the sufferer as a form of 'neurosis', ie it's in the mind.

 

[Another Howard]

At risk of repeating myself on this forum, I would urge the Michigan researchers - and sufferers - to explore sacro-cranial therapy.

A practitioner (UK) was able to turn my tinnitus off, back on at my amazed request, and then permanently off like a switch, by pressing gently on my lower back.

I would like also to see discussion of 'subjective' tinnitus (what only we hear) and 'objective' tinnitus that's actually audible to other people. Oh yes! When I heard about that one I experimented with a super sensitive microphone and got a recording. A phenomenon of some value to building any research data I would think.

 

[Martin1962]

Great News !!! Happy New Year

 

[hoper]

Great news. Now I am a Michigan Wolverines fan.

 

[Lawrence Glickman]

Folks I'm 5 years and 3 operations into my "Tinnitus" and I have finally reduced it to a very low level. I'm afraid this new technique will be very limited in its effectiveness.

Here is why.

1. Tinnitus is not a disease or condition it is merely a very poor blanket term for a bunch of different problems with your ears. As such any one treatment will help some people and not others as each of us has a different set of issues.

2. I am disgusted with the lack of thorough diagnoses for patients. I was misdiagnosed right from the start and this was in a specialized hospital for only ENT Doctors. I was told that noise based ear damage from my youth was the problem and the pressure in my head needed "tubes" put in both sides and a deviated septum needed to be corrected. These operations proved to be invasive and ineffective as a skin breakout of lesions showed later I had contracted a parasitic infection similar to lyme or Zika.

It took years to get the right treatment and the infection comes back as all viruses do like malaria periodically. Once an infection of any sort gets into the nervous system the new "term" becomes "Otis Media" and it is hard to completely cure.

This is why the sound based systems in general fail or only are partly effective because ENT doctors rarely culture for infections of any type and offer treatments that miss the real problem. I am now on medication that has helped a lot and is not an opioid. In the USA its called Atarax a broad spectrum anti histamine and Nitazoxanida an anti parasite and anti viral in one pill.

I use various vitamin supplements as well like NAC which increase glutathione in the brain, a natural disinfectant, and Pine Bark Extract that increases circulation.

Sound therapy of any kind can help but only after the real medical problems are found and treated.

 

[Suepriem]

I live an hour away and sent an email volunteering for the 2018 trials. Fingers crossed!

 

[IAmCalifornia]

At risk of repeating myself on this forum, I would urge the Michigan researchers - and sufferers - to explore sacro-cranial therapy.

A practitioner (UK) was able to turn my tinnitus off, back on at my amazed request, and then permanently off like a switch, by pressing gently on my lower back.

I would like also to see discussion of 'subjective' tinnitus (what only we hear) and 'objective' tinnitus that's actually audible to other people. Oh yes! When I heard about that one I experimented with a super sensitive microphone and got a recording. A phenomenon of some value to building any research data I would think.

I tried sacro cranial therapy and the only thing that did was waste my time and money. I gave it a stone cold, solid chance.

 

[linearb]

@linearb
I understand you, the cost of travel is too expensive but looking at the results obtained if the next clinic trial will take place in the Antartic I'll go there. Who know may be it's a chance to make your tinnitus disappear.

The device isn't expected to produce an effect that lasts much beyond the study period, and they won't let you keep it no matter how nicely you ask . So, it's a lot of expense to maybe have a bit less tinnitus for a month. I was happy to do it once to find out about it, contribute to science, and have an excuse to bum around Ann Arbor for a while... but I also had disposable income and time. Anyone approaching this as a personal expense should be aware of all that.

 

[AZeurotuner]

The device isn't expected to produce an effect that lasts much beyond the study period, and they won't let you keep it no matter how nicely you ask . So, it's a lot of expense to maybe have a bit less tinnitus for a month. I was happy to do it once to find out about it, contribute to science, and have an excuse to bum around Ann Arbor for a while... but I also had disposable income and time. Anyone approaching this as a personal expense should be aware of all that.

If it significantly knocked down my T... They'd need the damn Navy Seals to get that device back from me.

 

[Stakovic]

@linearb

you want to say that the 20 people who have had relief on their tinnitus is just momentary.

 

[linearb]

@linearb

you want to say that the 20 people who have had relief on their tinnitus is just momentary.

It's not what I want to say, but it's the reality. I have not read the full whitepaper so I don't know how that's discussed, but "temporary relief" was how they set expectations and is expected based on their model of how this is supposed to work. They also told me verbally that the people that it had worked for, had all said the effect wore off within 1-4 weeks.

If it significantly knocked down my T... They'd need the damn Navy Seals to get that device back from me.

Wouldn't work; these things are highly proprietary devices; they may well have a kill-switch baked in, and even if they don't, there's no way to make any adjustments, get copies of the software used to manage and monitor them, etc. These are the experimental beta devices; they are in no way designed to survive long-term use. Also you'd be committing felony theft directly harming an institution that's spent the last several years trying to help us. Not cool.

Patience. If it works as well as they think it might, this could hit market significantly faster than a drug would.

 

[acufenero]

They also told me verbally that the people that it had worked for, had all said the effect wore off within 1-4 weeks.

What if you use it every day?

 

[linearb]

What if you use it every day?

that's the million dollar question, and we're not likely to get an answer to it unless the phase-II study here goes well enough for this to go to market, and eventually longitudinal studies can be conducted.

 

[AZeurotuner]

Wouldn't work; these things are highly proprietary devices; they may well have a kill-switch baked in, and even if they don't, there's no way to make any adjustments, get copies of the software used to manage and monitor them, etc. These are the experimental beta devices; they are in no way designed to survive long-term use. Also you'd be committing felony theft directly harming an institution that's spent the last several years trying to help us. Not cool.

Patience. If it works as well as they think it might, this could hit market significantly faster than a drug would.

I was mostly just kidding. Although for an outright cure, who knows what I would do...

 

[acufenero]

that's the million dollar question, and we're not likely to get an answer to it unless the phase-II study here goes well enough for this to go to market, and eventually longitudinal studies can be conducted.

I mean, do the researchers know whether the device can be used daily or not?

 

[linearb]

I was mostly just kidding. Although for an outright cure, who knows what I would do...

Gotcha. I was a little trigger happy on my response, mostly because I did have this same thought so I had really thought it all through, haha.

Yeah, for an outright cure I don't know what I might do, though I do know that I would never be willing to do anything that stood a risk of harming my family / loved ones. If you gave me a The Box-like dilemma, I'd probably spend too long thinking about it, but I'm fairly certain I could not sacrifice someone else's well-being for my own, at least not without their explicit consent.

 

[linearb]

I mean, do the researchers know whether the device can be used daily or not?

The study protocols have been daily use for one month straight, only. So, no one has any real insight into what would happen if someone used it for longer than that. The only way to find out is to get the devices out into the world and then do followup studies.

 

[AZeurotuner]

Gotcha. I was a little trigger happy on my response, mostly because I did have this same thought so I had really thought it all through, haha.

Yeah, for an outright cure I don't know what I might do, though I do know that I would never be willing to do anything that stood a risk of harming my family / loved ones. If you gave me a The Box-like dilemma, I'd probably spend too long thinking about it, but I'm fairly certain I could not sacrifice someone else's well-being for my own, at least not without their explicit consent.

Yeah I agree, in fact family would be just about the only thing I'd be willing to risk it getting worse for. I'd like to think I'm not desperate enough to do anything too crazy. Honestly it's not even the T that gets me so much as the worry of making it worse. I'd be happy with something that just guaranteed that it wouldn't progress. It would be great to be able to get back to the shooting range, ride loud dirt bikes, blast impact guns, race cars, etc., with no worries. Looks like many new treatment options are on the horizon though, I'm optimistic.

 

[linearb]

It would be great to be able to get back to the shooting range, ride loud dirt bikes, blast impact guns, race cars, etc., with no worries.

Yup, I hear you. I still ride a motorcycle and shoot .22s, but I'm cautious about it and all this stuff certainly limits the time I spend doing it, and to some extent the enjoyment I get out of it. If not for the ringing I'd probably have a much beefier motorcycle, but my little Enfield stays under 90db at road speeds around here, and that's the way I like it (with plugs jammed in under my helmet, of course).

Chainsaws are totally off the table for me, and my deal with my wife is that she handles the mowing (and probably eventually log splitting, once we get a gas powered splitter).

 

[Chris Collins]

I started tinnitus 6 years ago the day after my Father died. My doctor says that it's the small hairs in my left ear that are damaged... but we are not sure. It is loud every morning and when I speak/think about it. I welcome any new development on the subject... I miss silence.

 

[rachelb]

Poor little guinea pig. I hate that research for humans involves the torture of animals.

 

[Halsy]

Poor little guinea pig. I hate that research for humans involves the torture of animals.

Yeah the fact that they actually give animals tinnitus to experiment on them really infuriates me. Animals are not lab equipment! There's no shortage of scumbag humans out there to experiment on - murderers, rapists, etc., use them instead.

 

[Halsy]

While this interesting electrical stimulation in treating tinnitus has been well known for yeas - P Stim and Electroacupuncture - with good results so unless this treats more serious tinnitus and/or is longer lasting I don't see how it's much different. Honestly I think Helix's PoNS device coming to market is probably going to be the best thing going for some time to come. The results on T and MS patients are nothing short of miraculous. That's because PoNS doesn't just treat the symptoms but actually repairs brain neuroplasticity which is such a major part of all this.

http://heliusmedical.com/index.php/divisions/neurohabilitation/the-pons-device

As I stated just a month or so ago, I think we're going to see some major, and I do mean MAJOR, breakthroughs for treatment of tinnitus/pulsatile tinnitus in the next 5-10 years. When you can get AIs/Neural Nets doing the heavy lifting on everything from modeling experimental drugs without putting people and animals at risk to scanning MRIs where radiologists/neurologists constantly miss things, to providing actual diagnoses for better and more timely treatments - still the biggest problem in medicine today - then things will be getting a lot better for all concerned.

 

[Localboy]

 

[AZeurotuner]

Yeah the fact that they actually give animals tinnitus to experiment on them really infuriates me. Animals are not lab equipment! There's no shortage of scumbag humans out there to experiment on - murderers, rapists, etc., use them instead.

In the US we have the Eighth ammendment, which protects prisoners from cruel and unusual punishment... Not to mention the fact that some of these individuals are later cleared of any wrong doing through DNA testing and exonerated.

 

[Ambassador]

Animal rights snowflakes make me sick. Maybe when you mother of one of your children is suffering from a disease that can be treated with something that came from an animal experiment you might join us in the real world. Unbelievable.

 

[Jake007]

Chainsaws are totally off the table for me

Did you have a bad experience with one regarding your tinnitus?

 

[Stakovic]

I mean, do the researchers know whether the device can be used daily or not?

A larger trial will try the treatment for longer. "We don't know at this point whether they will need to continue to use it every day, or if they will just need to do it once a week or so. This will have to be determined," Dr shore added.

 

[Tinniger]

I am disgusted with the lack of thorough diagnoses for patients.

Me too.

 

[meeb]

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...ound-and-electrical-pulses-may-tame-tinnitus/