Long-Lasting Total Remission of Tinnitus: A Systematic Collection of Cases

[Frédéric]

The article below is cited on the "Tinnitus" page of the World Health Organization website:

Deafness and hearing loss: Tinnitus

WHO questions and answers on tinnitus.

www.who.int

In the section "Is there a cure for tinnitus?" it says:

"There are also documented cases where tinnitus has disappeared, even after many years of being chronic."

Long-lasting total remission of tinnitus: A systematic collection of cases

Could someone please obtain the full article to determine the actual causes of these remissions?

 

[annV]

Could someone please obtain the full article to determine the actual causes of these remissions?

Attached.

 

[Sonia554]

It is a little concerning that they say "may" instead of "can" or "does." I wonder if that is because there is no way to objectively prove that any particular person in a study even had tinnitus, much less that it went away. We know that it does go away for many people, or it becomes so mild that it is just as good as having gone away.

 

[Frédéric]

@annV, many thanks.

It is incredible to see yet another incomplete study. The authors did not bother to match the cause of the tinnitus with the medication that was taken.

 

[withintention]

In case it is useful, here is a one-paragraph summary from ChatGPT:

This study systematically documented 80 cases of long-lasting total tinnitus remission across a wide age range. Most participants had experienced severe, disruptive tinnitus (average annoyance rating ~7.6/10, with sleep, concentration, and emotional impacts common) for an average of 4 years before remission. Remission occurred gradually in about three-quarters of cases and suddenly in about one-quarter, and 92% of participants remained symptom-free after 18 months. Patients credited a variety of factors, including medications (30%), hearing aids, manual therapy, relaxation techniques, or combinations of treatments, though memory recall limited precision. Importantly, neither age, gender, nor tinnitus duration predicted outcomes, suggesting that complete and lasting remission is possible at any stage, challenging the belief that tinnitus is inevitably permanent"

 

[Emao]

This study would be more useful if it focused on one particular cause of tinnitus and the remission rate, rather than looking only at people with tinnitus as a whole. I wonder if the general public sees everyone with tinnitus as one homogeneous group.

 

[Cirq]

@Emao, I assure you, we are all looked at the same way. We have tinnitus.

Like cancer, you cannot feel it when your friend or loved one has it. How many different types of cancer are there? With cancer, the doctor identifies the type and comes up with a treatment plan, such as chemotherapy, radiation, or both. Of course, you may also decide you do not want treatment.

Tinnitus is the same. We have so many different kinds, too many to list. To tie this together, if you are using hearing aids as part of going into remission, you are not without tinnitus—you are masking it. Does their concept of remission mean it does not bother them? If so, then I am in remission, because it does not bother me. But it is still there, and it is as loud as the day it started more than three years ago.

No drugs and no doctors did anything for me. In fact, the opposite. I walked this path alone, and I beat this beast from hell. I stopped waiting for a medical fix.