DIY Brain Hacking & Tinnitus (tDCS)

hi guys

does any knows where to place the electrode for having effects on tinnitus?

i m having one built next week or by end of month and wanted to know if anyone knows about it?

 

I would search this Reddit board and ask there. Keep us posted how this goes!

http://www.reddit.com/r/tdcs

 

Long good article about brain hacking and tDCS in Economist:

http://www.economist.com/news/techn...e-stimulate?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/hacking_your_brain

 

Interesting article. Thanks!

 

So... I happen to be an experimental psychologist/neuroscientist who uses tDCS in the lab. As such, I have a very high quality, research-grade tDCS system (up to 8 electrodes that can be used to triangulate current to deeper parts of the brain) and the knowledge to know how to use it.

For now I'm sitting on the sidelines. My tinnitus is too new to be fucking around with DYI hacks, even if I have the skillset to do it properly. For all I know my tinnitus will still dissipate on its own. And in the early stages it's so variable that I wouldn't even have confidence to know that any post-treatment changes were due to the treatment. Plus, there's always the chance that I make it worse.

But perhaps in the future I'll give it a try.

 

Let us know if you do!

 

@MattS
https://www.tinnitus.org.uk/tinnitus-and-transcranial-direct-current-stimulation-tdcs
"The current literature shows moderate to significant therapeutic efficacy of tDCS on tinnitus symptoms. Further randomised placebo-controlled double-blind trials with large sample sizes are needed to reach a definitive conclusion on the efficacy of tDCS for tinnitus"

Could you not get involved with the research? Nothing like "personal interest" to get you through those boring lab sessions...

 

Yeah, been thinking about it...

(It's not quite that easy - I would need to get funding, and with this not being my historical area of focus that could be challenging (ie. several years in the making). But the field remains in a really nascent stage at this point; so there's certainly room for me to conduct a well-designed study.)

 

You may shortly (few months) see an announcement that I am indeed beginning a formal study. Probably won't be with tDCS right of the bat, for the reasons I noted above. But I may get into the game.

 

I've recently purchased the Halo Sport 2 realizing that it's not intended to help with tinnitus but I was intrigued by tDCS. I haven't used it enough to know if it's helping. Too bad it can't be modified to target tinnitus given that the design is legit.

https://www.haloneuro.com/

 

Have you found the device to be therapeutic in anyway?
Have you noticed any changes? More alert, cognitive improvements, etc?
I have never heard of this, makes some pretty big claims.

 

If you need any statistical support please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I work as a biostatistician in the Clinical Trials space. Doctorate plus 4 years of industry experience. Would be happy to help pro bono in any way I could towards advancements for tinnitus.

 

@lcj What a great offer!

@MattS Can you not get free use of the lab and plug yourself in? Big chance here! Look at the famous doctors who experimented on themselves. For instance, the guys who discovered that raised uric acid levels lead to gout actually injected themselves with uric acid, and gave themselves really severe gout, to demonstrate this. Now they are famous, at least amongst gout sufferers. If you can find a way to zap tinnitis in yourself then that should lead to big money to extend the work to others (there must be some 1% billionaires suffering from his thing!)

 

For me the answer for tinnitus will come from there.

Not from hair cell regeneration, not from Lenire or other devices, but from brain hacking.
This is clearly a brain disorder, that can take his roots from hearing loss yes, but it's all in the brain anyway.

Mine didn't appear from noise trauma so it's obvious for me.

 

It makes some pretty big, likely bogus, claims. But even if it works: it stimulates the motor cortex - so why would one expect it to work on tinnitus (??)

The brain is a pretty big, complex organ. You can't just stimulate somewhere and cross your fingers.

 

Oh yeah, big chance: I could become the next Peter Parker.

Also: as you said, what we need is large, well-designed, double-blinded clinical trials, not poorly-controlled, self-administered case studies. That is exceedingly unlikely to help anyone.

 

Thanks @lcj! That is in fact a pretty great offer. I'm still not sure I'm quite ready to topsy-turvy my lab focus on a moment's notice... but I'll definitely keep this in mind.

 

Hello @MattS, any advancements in your studies on tDCS for tinnitus? I am about to start this tDCS therapy in a couple of weeks in Poland (I found a clinic that can do that) based on recommendations from brai3n.com (Gent, Belgium) about which parts of my ringing brain to stimulate. It would be interesting if you had any findings about treatment protocol for tinnitus.