Electrical Stimulation of the Cochlea for Treatment of Chronic Disabling Tinnitus

[beefling]

Can we get an update? Is he still doing clinical trials? Or waiting for FDA approval?

We could ask him directly. As it turns out, I know just the guy for the job.

 

[LBE]

@LBE, it's as close to medical negligence as you could get. Like, seriously, wtf. Researchers are too narrow-minded in their own nonsense. But why haven't the Tinnitus UK or the ATA flagged this up decades ago? They have scientific advisory boards. Makes my blood boil, honestly.

You have really made me angry.

It's maddening to think that we've had a potential intervention available for so long and no one has done anything with it. That's why I've donated multiple times to Tinnitus Quest and will keep doing so--we can't let another 30 years go by like the last.

 

[UKBloke]

This thread has gotten a bit confusing, so I just re-read it to try to understand where we are regarding the various ongoing and completed trials.

The Matthew Carlson trial that the OP originally referenced was completed, and all 22 participants experienced positive results. It seems, however, that an additional trial of Matthew Carlson's has yet to report results. Was there a parallel trial? That is the part I am most confused about.

As a side note, it appears that the Carlson trial technology differs from the eventual product, if there ever will be one, in the sense that the study stimulation was delivered intra-tympanically, whereas the eventual technology would be implanted into the mastoid as a permanent solution. This is my understanding at least.

Regarding other trials, Hamid's is in progress, and we should be getting results next year. There has been so little information about his technology that I am not entirely clear on how an eventual device would be implemented. The more I have thought about it, the more a permanent intra-tympanic device, rather than mastoid implantation, seems potentially troublesome.

Cochlear is recruiting. If they can get their technology to work, and there is no reason to believe they cannot, they are my personal favorite to get something to market. In the tinnitus space, they seem to bridge the gap between endless research and commercial viability.

 

[Sevv]

Today I read a wonderful success story about someone on Reddit who received a cochlear implant. He developed horrendous tinnitus in one of his ears because of Menière's disease and lived with it for 13 years. He wanted to give up many times, and then, when he finally received the implant, he experienced complete suppression of his tinnitus and returned to blessed silence. I really hope we can all have access to a less invasive but equally effective type of implant in the near future.

 

[gracepixie]

Today I read a wonderful success story about someone on Reddit who received a cochlear implant. He developed horrendous tinnitus in one of his ears because of Menière's disease and lived with it for 13 years. He wanted to give up many times, and then, when he finally received the implant, he experienced complete suppression of his tinnitus and returned to blessed silence. I really hope we can all have access to a less invasive but equally effective type of implant in the near future.

God, it's good to hear those stories. Thanks for sharing that!

This thread has gotten a bit confusing, so I just re-read it to try to understand where we are regarding the various ongoing and completed trials.

The Matthew Carlson trial that the OP originally referenced was completed, and all 22 participants experienced positive results. It seems, however, that an additional trial of Matthew Carlson's has yet to report results. Was there a parallel trial? That is the part I am most confused about.

As a side note, it appears that the Carlson trial technology differs from the eventual product, if there ever will be one, in the sense that the study stimulation was delivered intra-tympanically, whereas the eventual technology would be implanted into the mastoid as a permanent solution. This is my understanding at least.

Regarding other trials, Hamid's is in progress, and we should be getting results next year. There has been so little information about his technology that I am not entirely clear on how an eventual device would be implemented. The more I have thought about it, the more a permanent intra-tympanic device, rather than mastoid implantation, seems potentially troublesome.

Cochlear is recruiting. If they can get their technology to work, and there is no reason to believe they cannot, they are my personal favorite to get something to market. In the tinnitus space, they seem to bridge the gap between endless research and commercial viability.

I can help clarify this:

It seems like Dr. Carlson is an early-stage R&D partner with Cochlear. They supplied the devices for his first trial with 22 people. It seems that in the published trial with 22 participants, participants received temporary stimulation of the cochlear promontory, which is in the middle ear, just under the round window. It's the part of the cochlea that abuts the middle ear. I think in this first trial, he just used a probe on a stick through the eardrum. They applied the stim for some time, then measured how long the effects lasted and which electrical parameters gave the best results.

The subsequent trial by the Carlson group tested the actual implant. It is placed in the same location that the probe from the first study touched, but it is actually fixed with some adhesive. Then a pulse generator is implanted in the mastoid, similar to what is done for a CI. Then the patient wears a processor, presumably just to charge the device, as external sound processing doesn't SEEM important for a tinnitus implant (but maybe it is).

Cochlear actually sponsors the TINIS trial. I don't know if there are actually any technical differences between the second Carlson trial and the Cochlear trial. There don't seem to be any differences based on what I've read. It's possible that Cochlear's trial is more expensive and designed to actually pave the way for a pivotal trial. Maybe they wanted to run a smaller, less expensive feasibility trial with Carlson's group. Then again, maybe they are different devices. I'm not sure. But the technology seems very similar.

On a side note, Carlson and Cochlear clearly collaborate. And it's not unusual at all for collaborators to stagger publications to be able to cite work in a certain order. I wouldn't be surprised if Carlson is waiting for some benchmark from Cochlear before publishing, which might explain why it's been a year since his trial wrapped and he still hasn't published.

I'm pretty confident in the points I made here, but it is still a lot of speculation. I imagine we will learn more in 2026. Cochlear isn't going to just sit on something profitable after sponsoring a trial. They have plenty of money to move it forward, and it would open up a new market for them.