Posted on 01/12/2011 12:18:22 PM PST by Red Badger
Scientists have found a way to ease chronic ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus, by stimulating a neck nerve and playing sounds to reboot the brain, according to research published Wednesday.
There is currently no cure for tinnitus, which can range from annoying to debilitating and affects as many as 23 million adults in the United States, including one in 10 seniors and 40 percent of military veterans.
For Gloria Chepko, 66, who has suffered from tinnitus since she was four years old, the sound she describes as "like crickets... but also bell-like," gets worse when she is tired.
"It's awful," she said. "Sometimes it is very loud, and it will get loud if I am under stress or if I have been going for a very long time and I am fatigued," she said.
"If my mind is tired and I sit down I will only hear this sound."
For some people, such as military veterans who are left with hearing damage after exposure to loud blasts and gunfire, the noise -- which could also sound like roaring, whooshing or clicking -- interferes with their ability to lead a normal life.
The US Veterans Administration spends one billion dollars per year on disability payments related to tinnitus, the most common service-related ailment in soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, industry experts say.
Scientists believe the disorder is caused by hearing loss or nerve damage, to which the brain tries but fails to adjust.
"Brain changes in response to nerve damage or cochlear trauma cause irregular neural activity believed to be responsible for many types of chronic pain and tinnitus," said Michael Kilgard of the University of Texas, co-author of the study in the journal Nature.
"We believe the part of the brain that processes sounds -- the auditory cortex -- delegates too many neurons to some frequencies, and things begin to go awry," he said.
To fix that, researchers used rats to test a theory that they could reset the brain by retraining it so that errant neurons return to their normal state.
In rats with tinnitus, they electrically stimulated the vagus nerve, which runs from the head through the neck to the abdomen, in combination with playing a certain high-pitched tone.
When stimulated, the nerve can encourage changes in the brain by releasing chemicals such as acetylcholine and norepinephrine that act as neurotransmitters.
Rats that underwent the pairing of noise and stimulation experienced a halt to the ringing sounds for up to three and a half months, while control rats that received just noise or just stimulation did not.
An examination of neural responses in the auditory cortexes showed normal levels in the rats who were treated with the combination of stimulation and sound, indicating the tinnitus had disappeared.
The treatment "not only reorganized the neurons to respond to their original frequencies, but it also made the brain responses sharper," the study said.
"The key is that, unlike previous treatments, we're not masking the tinnitus, we're not hiding the tinnitus," said Kilgard.
"We are returning the brain from a state where it generates tinnitus to a state that does not generate tinnitus. We are eliminating the source of the tinnitus." Clinical trials are expected to begin on humans in the coming months, with the first trials starting in Europe, according to lead study author Navzer Engineer. The process of vagus nerve stimulation, known as VNS, is already being used in the treatment of around 50,000 people with epilepsy or depression, the study said. "This minimally invasive method of generating neural plasticity allows us to precisely manipulate brain circuits, which cannot be achieved with drugs," said Engineer. "Pairing sounds with VNS provides that precision by rewiring damaged circuits and reversing the abnormal activity that generates the phantom sound." Like many sufferers, Chepko has learned to cope with the noise. "I have to find some other way to relax to just endure it, take a bath or do stretches or just lie down and stare or read a book, depending on how bad it is," she said. "I have kind of lived around it, or over it."
Like you I have had it for years, every once in a while I get a suprise and it goes away for short periods of time and silence is golden...but I want to know how they know these animals have tinnitis? I don’t think animals talk...just wondering..:O)
BS. I quit MSG long ago before I even got this problem and I got this problem.
I don’t think I should be rebooted. For one thing, I don’t know where my brain’s recovery disks are. I don’t think they were included when I was shipped from the factory. In fact, I arrived without even so much as a user manual.
Yeah, factory installs never come with all the stuff you need.
You know my tinnitus is caused by MSG even though my doctor attributes it to the incessant noise and vibration of farm equipment. Your prognosis isn't supported by serious science, but it doesn't have to be because China is a bad place.
Swell.
Titan II complexes and Minuteman III Launch Control Centers and Launch Facilities for mine.
I have it every now and then but do have severe hearing loss from a very bad case of vertigo in my 20s. Also had BPPV which was cleared up with Eppley.
Just wish I could hear again... can’t even use a phone on that side... everyone sounds like they’re on helium.
I experience at least one of those every day! I was thinking it is about time to wipe my brain and reinstall, but if a reboot will fix it, I'm in!
How many times can a brain be rebooted before it crashes???
I only hear it when everything else is quiet.
...sometimes it is like a diesel generator running off in the distance
...other times it is like a bad motor bearing
...it is always rhythmic
...it keeps me awake at night sometimes
...it is more of a nuisance than anything else.
If I had tinnitus, I’d want to read the chapter in this book that discusses serious options:
http://www.amazon.com/Musicophilia-Tales-Music-Oliver-Sacks/dp/1400040817
“...sleeping with good earplugs helps...”
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If earplugs worked for you, then you did not have tinnitus, since tinnitus is not externally generated.
With tinnitus, the “sounds” that are “heard” are not really “sounds”,
but they are some kind of a short circuit or malfunction of the “hearing” mechanism.
Some believe it to be related to cardiopulmonary issues.
I don’t eat canned or packaged food, and keep my sodium intake very low. Still have tinnitus and moderate-to-severe hearing loss.
By reducing the input level artificially between the eardrum and the brain you are engaging in artificial programming of the brains auditory circuitry.
That's where the concept of threshold shift comes into play.
Yes, it's not for everyone, but it's worth a try, many have good results, if not plain old better sleep, which is a good thing all in itself.
Some people have implanted vagus nerve stimulators.
The stimulators go in the chest cavity and the stimulator wire is wrapped around the vagus nerve several times where it passes through the neck on the left side.
I wonder if the people in this group have had a lessening of any tinnitus?
It should also be possible to stimulate the vagus nerve using a pulsed, short duration ac or dc wave form sent between two external electrodes applied to the skin.
You could also cause stimulation by applying pressure to it (a really BAD idea) when the vagus nerve is stumulated by a blow it often causes you to cough.
tinnitus bump
Whoa, thanks for posting that! I’ve had vertigo attributed to Meniere’s for years, but it has stopped recently. I started taking Chromium about 5 months ago for low blood sugar. I’ll certainly keep taking it after reading your comment. My doctor gave me a run of steroids a while back, which had no effect at all.
As far as the tinnitus, mine is like the little girl in the article described, crickets and a high-pitched bell tone that comes and goes. Hoping for relief someday.
Most time I hear crickets, like on a summer night....but sometimes hear GREGORIAN CHANTS!..............
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