Can Tinnitus Be Cured? What Is Going to End Up Being the Cure?

...Or a very effective treatment. If you had to place a bet. AM101? Lasers? Light therapy?

Do you honestly deep down fear that there won't ever be anything in our lifetime? If yes i don't think I wanna hear it lol.

 

I don't know what the treatment will be, but it's inevitable that within the next few years that things are going to change. The rate at which technology is advancing at the moment is absolutely ridiculous. Even if tinnitus and hearing related issues don't get significant increases in funding or research, advancements in the realms of stem cell therapy, gene therapy, nanotechnology, neuroscience, etc - will eventually make for advancements in all fields of medicine.

If I had to put my money on anything though, I think AM101 is going to eventually get approved and we'll probably also see something similar to what Autifony are planning (drug therapy for chronic sufferers).

 

Well, this is going to be speculations, but I see the treatment divided into two separate steps:

Step 1: Treat the underlying cause of the tinnitus.
For the cases where this is cochlear damage (noise, ototoxicity etc.) stem cells will probably be the key. Many people throw around the number 10 years. Whether this is realistic, I don't know. There are allready succesful stories floating around the internet, though.
For the cases where the underlying cause is something else (brain damage?), I really don't know.

Step 2: Stop the tinnitus. The 'hard' part.
Well, since we have not repaired any cochleas yet, we do not know if this is enough to fix the problem. If it turns out that it's not, then we need something to 'retune' the brain. That is probably going to be really hard. Maybe some of the methods that we use today would be effective when the cochlea is repaired? (ototopic reorganisation with 'notch music therapy', 'acoustic neuromodulation', etc.).

For acute noise induced tinnitus, I suspect the road is shorter. AM-101 looks promising.

 

I will be habituated to my tinnitus by then and have other health related things to worry about. Hope they will fix them too, but I don't want to live forever..

 

It's funny how regularly topics like this popup

Even if AM101 focuses on tinnitus, the "cure" may come from a totally under the radar research not even aimed at tinnitus, and that makes me even more hopeful

 

Cheesecake!

Seriously, it's not something I'm thinking about, it will come along when it comes.

 

Reading about research helps for me, but as there were no news or posts in a while I had to make a thread myself!

 

I believe if a cure comes it will be a "brain related" cure as opposes anything to do with the mechanics of the ear. And mostly as an off shoot of research of some other problem. Tinnitus is just too low of a priority on the cure list to get much funding and thus research.

 

The best things on the horizon seem to be Mute button and AM 101 treatment - both are proper studies being inspected by governments

 

I believe once they find a common pathway for tinnitus no matter what caused it something will come to bring silence back to many sufferers, treatment or cure. IMHO, I don't think it has anything do do with the ears...it's all in the brain.

 

What can people that have had tinnitus for 4-6 months try?

 

This topic could have so many answers but if we look at history cures to major deceases have often been found by fluke, as in a stroke of good luck. The most significant breakthroughs in medical research usually came about when people were looking for something else entirely. Scientist sitting around late night at the lab testing chemicals and different remedies on lab rats. "Hey Mike, have you seen what these molecules are doing to the brain? Come over here and have a look!" Like when they discovered the effects of what came to be known as Viagra, what they really wanted was to find an effective Angina medication. Perhaps someone in the science team had an impotence problem? Or maybe some test patient came back with a chronic erection as a result of testing medication to treat his angina condition? There are many more examples. So who knows what will turn out to be the "serum" to kill tinnitus, but my best guess will be something in the department of brain science and/or neurology. Someone who's funded to treat epilepsy or something like that could very well be the one to discover how to kill phantom noises created by over stimulated neurons in the auditory cortex. Perhaps just by a handy accident or by observing some other chemical reactions to demo drugs. The thing with tinnitus however is that they need to know of the condition and be aware cause you can't see or visually identify phantom noises being removed, but you can observe neurons being less active.

We could of course also hope that someone actually looking to treat tinnitus could find a cure, like stem cell tests on the cochlea or brain surgery aiming to lower electric activity in the active cortex areas. But it might as well be something coming from unexpected medical environments cause after all there's more activity in the search for cures to other conditions.

 

Innerear regeneration.But before that there comes a lot of different remedyes and medicine that gives temporery
release.

 

Since there are different etiologies for tinnitus there will be different cures. So not all tinnitus sufferers will be cured at the same time. It probably won't be a "we are all saved" moment.

In fact, for a very small sample of patients the cures already exist. Some particular tinnituses like those caused by a diverticulum in a blood vessel are already treated. Or some caused by an archnoid cyst in the brain. Even some people whose tinnitus is not in one of the fancy categories and considered previously intractable have been tamed by brain implants. The surgeons do no know very well why some patients respond to brain stimulation while other not but it is a beginning.

I guess the cures will come from brain research more than from ear research.

 

Jee. Fixing a physical problem in a known, tiny region of space?

I'm thinking they'll solve it when and if they start seriously trying to.

 

Very good question Erlend. I had a very long talk with my ENT and he said stem cell therapy, in his opinion, is going to be the cure, the way he explained it to me, I must agree.

He said stem cell regeneration is going to affect the medical community much like, if not more so, than when Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928

 

How can they improve stem cell treatment? Can they? Or is it like: It either is the cure (as it is now), or it isn't.

I consider trying to get money to do stem cell treatment like @attheedgeofscience

 

I think we need to understand that the cause of T is complex so it can't be just ONE cure. Stem cell treatment can re-generate what is damaged in the ear, (at least it carries good potential) but many people have severe T by other causes than acoustic trauma or hair cell degeneration, and remember that this is still just a theory. Inner ear hair cell loss and cochlea damage being the cause of T has not been proven, but it's a common theory. The potential cause list is long and it can also be a mix of causes. T is also brain damage so in order to cure the condition one needs to identify the cause, that is probably as important as anything else.

I'm reading a book on T published back in 2001 right now and they did put a lot of emphasis on the brain, the central nervous system and not just the ear already back then. From the beginning of 2000 towards now what I mostly find in literature is T being defined as a neurological condition more than a single case of physical damage to the inner ear anatomy. There seems to be disagreement on what to prioritize when describing the instigator. Some are pointing towards the complete auditory system saying T can't exist without there being more damages than one and/or one instance provoking the onset of another etc.

I hope science will be capable of retrieving a visual reference to the inner ear so that it's possible to SEE what is really going on in there. I think MRI technology need to develop (or a complete different and new technology) in order to set a proper diagnose. You can't heal what you don't know, at least it's far more challenging. Right now ENT's can only play the guess game when trying to diagnose the T, they fail to identify WHERE the problems are and can only tell the patient what it IS - as we didn't already know? Science needs to incorporate the exact cause to find the cure I believe. ENT's commonly walk in the same footsteps playing it safe, that meaning explaining ALL things T as acoustic trauma or inner ear damage. A "blind approach" like that don't create progress so science needs to provide a tool for them to rule out anything it's NOT. Imagine what a huge step forward that would be? To really get to see and identify all the potential problem areas would represent a very big leap towards treating the problem and also to put an end to guesswork.

In addition to the theory I have posted earlier here I personally see two approaches: One treating physical damage and disorders. The other treating brain sections, like the auditory cortex. Getting to "close" down the hypersensitive neurons firing at an uncontrolled rate should be a target. So a cure could be developed in steps, healing some T types but not others. Then later further steps could be developed to cure the remaining T types. This is not a one cure fits all condition I'm afraid, it's not like penicillin. It's not going to be a magic pill that cure all T types but it could be a magical time when we finally can stick our heads into a scanner and see exactly with pixel perfection what the zx##** is going inside the ear and exactly WHERE in the brain the disorder is active - if anywhere at all. Also, what type of role the central nervous system plays in the T&H scenario needs to be investigated further.

 

Right now, as far as I know it is still in clinical research here in the US. Telling the SC's what the target is, and how to get there, seem to be one of the main problems. I have not found answers to your questions on the internet except to say that they are close. My ENT said I would have to actually contact the various universities conducting SC research and see if they would put me in a clinical trial program, so no, there is no stem cell cure per se, where you can go to the doctor and get a shot and be cured. I would say it will be a cure.

Consider yourself lucky though, you are young enough to where you will see a cure. I am assuming your avatar is a photo of you.

You know Erlend, too bad you can't go see a doctor in any specialist field, he should be able tell you where stem cell research is at right now. assuming he goes to conferences where these things are discussed. Your questions are valid, but way beyond the scope of my knowledge, to give you any real meaningful answers.

Erlend you have a very inquisitive mind, you should try to follow up your questions by asking and writing doctors, universities. I myself have contacted Dr. Susan Shore Phd, she is doing research for tinnitus here at UM university. I found out about her work, right here on TT.

We email back and forth, she said right now they are not testing on humans. My point is, some researchers will reply to to you. you just have to scour the internet and posts that you read here, then follow up with a phone call or email, maybe even a visit. Am I making sense to you. Sometimes I have a problem expressing myself...

 

@yonkapin, I definitely agree. I wholeheartedly believe that within 10 years there will at least be an effective treatment, if not a full blown cure. We are so blessed to find ourselves in a time of tremendous technological advancement. Until then, lets make tinnitus our bitch and show it who's really in control!

 

Oh, actually Erlend and I are doing this at the moment. Everytime we stumble upon a stem cell article we email the authors and ask them if the current state of stem cell technology could have any real possibility of providing any improvement in the inner ear. So far none has responded. Eventual replies will of course be put up on this forum.

 

Hi hopeful, Great to hear that you guys are actively seeking out S/C information. Looking forward to what you two find out...

 

Yeah, well, it might seem a bit overoptimistic, but if a cure for this disease (or symptom as experts prefer to call it) is to be found we must push all the buttons. Furthermore we must try all options. Stem cell treatment might not (?) be at the point yet where it can totally restore anything, and tinnitus might be more of a brain problem than an ear problem, but nevertheless many people with conductive hearing loss are relieved of their tinnitus symptoms when the conductive hearing loss is fixed (!) Why not the same for sensorineural hearing loss?

If nothing else, the researchers receiving our emails are aware of our existence while they are reading the emails.

I think one of the big problems with (a cure for) tinnitus is that in the end, most people end up having to just accept the noise. This includes talking less about it. And probably for most people it becomes a 'minor' problem, sure. But anyone would still like a cure. One of the most famous tinnitus psychologists in New York sent out a letter to all the patients he had 'treated' during his career and one of the questions was 'if a pill to remove tinnitus existed, would you take it' - and (of course) everyone answered 'yes!'.

You can't see that a person has tinnitus. If asked, he would answer 'I have learned to live with it.' You can't die from tinnitus. You can't lose your mind from tinnitus (or that's what experts claim). So why spend so much money on a cure?

I am seriously baffled - maybe because I have only suffered from 5-6 months, I don't know - why there's not being shouted more 'we want a cure for tinnitus'. Why do these guys

Motorboating Girls for Breast Cancer Awareness

motorboat for breast cancer awareness but no musicians 'sing for tinnitus awareness?'

 

I seriously think that many famous musicians ( even more than we know of ) suffer from Tinnitus. But it's pretty much a disease (yeah, for me it's not just a so called symptom) , no one wants to talk about, because it isn't considered severe by society like e.g. cancer. When it comes to T it's often " don't be such a baby about it" and stuff, so probably Tinnitus and the suffering that goes with it s just not cool enough for the image. I once read an interview with Noel Gallagher were he was making fun of his brother because he took an MRI because of his ringing in the ears and he said that he had it too and that it was totally normal for rockstars and that he pretty much thinks Liam shouldn't make a fuss about it. Also there could legal problems with insurance companies when it comes to the next tour once the word is spilled that a artist has Tinnitus.

So, I hope you get what I mean.

 

@seal
I get your point (though I would think that it was Liam making fun of Noel.)
But all the 'don't be such a baby about it' is probably a good way to handle it for many people, since there is no cure. But I doubt that any musician wouldn't have the ear fixed if it was a possibility.

The point about insurance companies, I never got that one. Could you explain?

 

Haha ok, maybe I mixed them up. I never get who is who.

Yeah, but it mostly comes from people who really don't know what it's like to live with it 24/7. I agree, most people would want to be fixed if it was possible.

sure, usually the artists have insurances for the case they become sick and can't go on with the tour. If someone already has hearing loss and problems with Tinnitus it is very likely that insurance companies won't insure him at all or maybe not under the same conditions because it's more likely that he will suffer acoustic trauma or will face other ear related problems because the ears are already damaged and the risk is much higher.and I guess that also applies for probable disability insurances.

 

I totally agree with your comments and questions.

I myself do believe tinnitus can cause certain a T sufferer to loose it! There is/was a questionnaire right here on TT asking people about their T to see if there was anything in common, one question was how many people thought of suicide, I don't remember the exact %, but it was high. I think, albeit unfortunate, the thousands of soldiers returning home from the military with chronic T and PTSD may help the research.

US government is doing some testing on these people, here is a link, it is a few years old. The article is about brain MRI differences in T sufferers.

http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22079.aspx

 

That's batshit crazy!

I would suspect people without tinnitus to be at a much higher risk? Also getting T for a musician for the first time is more likely to have him cancel the tour than an eventual increase?

 

Really? I would say people who already have Tinnitus are more likely to have a increase when they have a show almost every night for many weeks that people with healthy ears.
Actually there is a musician in Germany ( does folk music ) who suffered from T for many years and just two years ago during a tour he had a huge increase in his T so he cancelled all his other shows and it was big in the press.