Cochlear Implants as a Treatment of Tinnitus

Cochlear implant and tinnitus–a meta-analysis

Abstract
Introduction
Tinnitus is a frequent symptom in cochlear implant patients, often reported as persistent and disabling in implant candidates. Tinnitus is rarely considered in the preoperative evaluation of patients who are eligible for cochlear implantation. Many studies have shown that a cochlear implant leads to a significant change in the perception of tinnitus.

Objective
To identify evidence in the scientific literature indicating that cochlear implant in eligible patients with tinnitus can improve tinnitus perception.

Methods
One hundred forty articles were found from nine databases, and 20 articles from the gray literature mentioned the relationship between cochlear implant and tinnitus perception in patients eligible for cochlear implant. The PICOS (population, intervention, comparison, and outcome) strategy, was used to define the eligibility criteria. The studies that met the inclusion criteria for this second step were included in a qualitative synthesis, and each type of study was analyzed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for quasi-experimental studies and the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for randomized clinical trials.

Results
The full texts of 11 articles were read, and 6 studies were selected for the meta-analysis. The total sample size in the evaluated articles was 136 patients with tinnitus who were eligible for cochlear implantation.

Conclusions
Taken together, these findings support the feasibility of cochlear implantation to reduce the perception of tinnitus, thus providing a new perspective in the treatment of tinnitus in patients with hearing loss who are candidates for cochlear implantation.

 

Are there any studies that include hybrid high frequency cochlear implants?

 

Has anyone heard of a patient being offered a cochlear implant as a treatment for severe tinnitus and sound sensitivity without profound hearing loss? Might sound like a strange question for most of you but I think some of you will understand.

 

When I asked my ENT if there was a "last resort" treatment, no matter how extreme it was, she brought up Cochlear Implants but in the same moment pointed out that it would likely yield worse hearing, and worse tinnitus, in cases like ours who doesn't have profound hearing loss. I know it isn't the answer you sought, just my 2 cents.

 

Yes, you are probably right. For sure worse hearing and a small possibility of less tinnitus.

 

Other doctors say tinnitus will be reduced by 75% due to a cochlear implant, and yes the hearing may be different or may become close to normal like before after a year. It’s all up in the air.

@Gb3, you can get a cochlear implant with single-sided deafness with moderate to severe hearing loss with tinnitus.

 

I thought a cochlear implant destroys what is left in the cochlea and makes everything into a flat robot voice.

The new Tinnitus Talk Podcast discusses this. The researcher talked about playing with the impulse of someone’s cochlear implant until they could make the tinnitus go away. Like entirely away. I think they said it came back when it was turned off after a couple hours.

 

If you think about it, a cochlear implant, at a fully advanced, perfected version, could be the solution to all hearing disorders as it could completely overwrite the cochlea. But currently, it's a very destructive, barbaric option for anyone who has better than profound hearing loss.

I wonder if technology can advance and somehow cochlear implants may not destroy what is left in the cochlea and kind of work synergistically with it.

 

A cochlear implant is considered for the patient when a hearing aid is no longer of value. If a hearing aid is useless and word recognition is very poor, you either stay deaf or choose to get a cochlear implant. Without restorative advances in medicine, there just aren't many choices.

 

This is already occurring at present.

Pretty much there are two main aspects being assessed right now to improve this.

The first is that there's tonnes of effort/research/work being done to preserve hearing in CI candidates. Currently there has been some major improvement in this and people are not losing residual hearing as regularly as happened previously.

Secondly there is currently research into methods to improve the outcomes with a CI including looking at new designs etc to improve their benefits.

It does all come down to your benefit from hearing aids as to whether you would be able to obtain a CI. Currently there have been many candidates who have either obtained significant reductions or eliminated tinnitus through the receipt of the CI.

 

To be honest, I haven't followed cochlear implant research closely (or at least not as close as the tinnitus research), but I don't think there is a cochlear implant yet, that doesn't destroy the cochlea in some way. For people with no hearing loss at all, it's absolutely insane to go for a cochlear implant in hopes of diminishing tinnitus and given what cochlear implants currently offer.

I may be wrong though, but a cochlear implant is an option when the ear is pretty much deaf.

 

They have hybrid high frequency ones.