MuteButton

Neuromod Devices Ltd secures CE Mark for mutebutton™ multisensory Tinnitus Treatment.

The company anticipates the Irish launch of the mutebutton™ system in Dec 2014, ahead of a wider European launch commencing early 2015. For more product information please visit www.mutebutton.ie

http://www.neuromoddevices.com/news/cemark

 

I asked that Jan 2014. Their answer:

 

In your opinion why they have not released the results of their clinical trial yet ?

 

I do not know. But if I have to speculate......they do not have any real results....!

 

This commercial video of this device makes me emotional and horrendously angry as well when it doesn't have any effect at all..

But for now my sincere compliments

 

What exactly is this treatment ? listening to tones while sucking on an electrode and watching Dora the Explorer?
Wait 50 new jobs!!! Ireland's unemployment rate will hit a 50 year low!
Minister of jobs (I guess that's what they call Minister of Labour there) just got a big fat bonus.

 

Minister Bruton Welcomes the Creation of 50 New Jobs by Neuromod Devices in Dublin as Company Launches a New Treatment Device for Tinnitus - See more at: http://www.ucd.ie/innovation/newsev...nitustreatment/#sthash.gp3n4LxY.zGjmLUvt.dpuf

creation of 50 new jobs
what kind of jobs ?Mr minister
do you mean job of selling toys and mp3 ?
show us the positif clinical results befor?

 

they started selling their device.

But I don't see any guarantee about effectiveness.

https://www.mutebutton.ie/purchase/the-hermitage

 

I can understand they cannot guarantee anything. My biggest problem is the fact that they do not release any of their research data. Also, the do not propose a model on how this device should reverse the pathology of tinnitus.

 

@dan and all, I agree, this company seems questionable, and maybe their attempt at this doesn't work, I have no clue, but it's actually not a terrible idea they had and I imagine it's based off of neuroscientist Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita's real technology and research that has worked at helping people regain function after suffering sensory brain trauma.

He did incredible things with neuroplasticity, you can read more about him in "The Brain That Changes Itself,"
a great, inspiring book about neuroplasticity success stories. Many years ago he was able to help a woman who had lost nearly all vestibular function to gentamicin (she couldn't stand, drive, felt like she was falling even when she was flat on the floor.) I'm not the person to explain it best, but I put a couple articles down there. I'll see if I can post the chapter in the book, too.

Anyway, this is actually one of the less ridiculous ideas that's come up in my opinion. I don't know if it works, but at least it's based off of something that did, it could be a step in the right direction.

Articles!

NY times article on similar tech and the woman Paul Bach-y-Rita helped: (looks kinda like mutebutton right?): http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/science/23sens.html?ex=1102218829&ei=1&en=9d8f104c257ef425&_r=0

Lots of Articles on Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita: https://tcnl.bme.wisc.edu/taxonomy/term/13

 

Dr. O Neill was on the radio yesterday talking about it. Said on average, it can reduce the volume of Tinnitus by around 40%.

Remains to be seen really, wonder if they have had much take up on the device.

 

if it reduces tinnitus 40% it will be amazing and we can say that we are cured
so 2500 euros are nothing.
see links to understand how neuroplasticity works

Paul Bach-y-Rita and Neuroplasticity

thefiveminutesthatchangedmyworld.wmv

Neuroplasticity: Rick Hanson Explains How to...

 

I can not buy it now I wait until it will be approved by FDA
I e-mailed mutebutton, my email was

I am very interested in your prouduct but I don't see any guarantee about effectiveness
can you show me any clinical results.?

their answer is:

Dear furguson
Many thanks for your email.
Following the initial launch of the mutebutton device in Ireland on Thursday 11th Dec we have been inundated with an abundance of emails and calls regarding purchase of the device. The mutebutton device will be available to purchase online in Ireland from Mon 15th Dec, in the UK from February 2015 and we anticipate rolling out to the rest of Europe over the forthcoming months. We have plans to seek FDA approval and hopefully launch in US in due course.
Details regarding purchase and fitting of device is available via the website www.mutebutton.ie. If you are interested in a tinnitus consultation only, this appointment can also be booked online. Cost of the mutebutton is 2,500 euros and consultation only is 100 euros. In Ireland the cost of purchasing the device is unfortunately not covered as yet under the medical card scheme, and patients are advised to make contact with their own private health insurance company regarding private cover. As this is a medical device patients may be entitled for a 20% tax rebate claim.
You will receive confirmation from The Neuromod Clinic in Dublin regarding your clinic appointment no later than close of business on the next available working day (Mon-Fri). Contact details for the clinic; contact@theneuromodclinic.com. We hope in due course to partner with clinicians in Ireland, however initially The Neuromod Clinic is the only clinic authorised to fit and configure the mutebutton device.
We currently have no plans to run further clinical studies. Results from our previous clinical studies will be available soon via the mutebutton website.
Kind
Regards
Mutebutton Customer Service Team


Caroline Hamilton - Clinical Manager / Audiologist
Neuromod Devices
tel: 0877604415 / 01 7163640
mail: caroline.hamilton@neuromoddevices.com
web: www.neuromoddevices.com/ www.mutebutton.ie
Afficher l'historique des mails

 

Well, I'm sure we'll all be interested to see the study when it pops up on the website "soon."

 

2500 € that's just overpriced... I'm in Dublin, Ireland, I have not bad job but even that I cannot afford it. It's disgusting seeing when all off them corps just try to make many without any proofs that this actually work...

 

Ireland to get first crack at new treatment for tinnitus sufferers

Do you think getting CE Marking approval is not enough to prove its effectiveness?

 

thanks markk
what is the difference between CE Marking and Food drug administration (FDA) ?
as you know mutebutton is with negotiation with FDA to get abrobation.
can you creat a new thread dedicate to our irish freinds to poste their mutebutton experience? as you have done for retigabine.

 

Blind Learn To See With Tongue

another video on tongue neuromod for the blind that i found from mutebutton Ross O'Neil old homepage : http://www.hamilton.ie/ross/

 

Just read the tonguetip has to be replaced every 90 hours (twice a year) ... that's weird. it costs 150€ !

 

Yes I think this tecknology targets all diseases related to brain disorder. I hope that our irish freinds post their mutebutton experiences in few weeks.

 

The science behind it seems sound enough; Page 10 on this link is very interesting...

http://spdfoundation.net/pdf/dodds_synthesis.pdf

The latest research into the cause of T is that; Once a specific frequency isn't detected by the auditory cortex then the requisite neurons involved in detecting that specific start producing random noise and eventually form whats called enhanced neuronal synchronization.

Here's a really good link explaining the phenomena...

http://www.audiclave.com/DS overview/what_is_neural_synchronicity.htm

There's been a lot of research recently on increasing the sensitivity of surrounding (unaffected) neurons in a patient and hoping they will extend dendritic connections into the affected area (plasticise) and interfere with the firing pattern of the affected area; basically desynchronise them, the results are mixed but hopeful.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3387303/

Here's another link which explains why worrying about you T makes it worse.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9443467

Basically you're increasing neuronal connection to your limbic system and once a path becomes established it becomes the beaten track and easier to travel down, here's another link for the scientists out there...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelinogenesis.

I'm wondering if the attentuation on the perception of T as an anxiety in this study is caused by increasing neuronal connection to the reward centre of the brain as the patients frequency discrimination improves and offsetting the converse anxiety model?

You can't feel two opposite emotions at the same time. Habituation is the perfect balance of reward and distress which leaves you in emotional homeostasis. Neither concerned or rewarded by it. It just is.

Maybe in the future a treatment for T will involve full cross sensory modality (Mutebutton being one) induced plasticity into the the affected area and pressure it into desynchronising from all sides? No neuron is an island.

Next time I have a spike I'm going to eat a full bar of Greene and Blacks chocolate. My reward centre will have something to say to my amygdala about that!

 

@Silvine , you need to see this video, this guy is right on the money.....
https://archive.org/details/Redwood_Center_2011_09_21_Michael_Kilgard

I strongly believe that our brain is nothing more than a giant prediction machine. It is constantly making predictions of what to expect. Our senses are mainly there as feedback to correct the prediction (and make some god damn sense of the world).

At some point our brain is simply imprinting the memory of tinnitus (either by attention or fear). From that point on, well tinnitus is the prediction and it does not get corrected (because of hearing loss). Mute button is claiming (via another pathway into the brain), they can teach the brain the current prediction is wrong.

I really do like their Idea, but I do not like the fact that they don't tell us how it is supposed to work. They sell it, but there is no proof at all.....nothing....zipp...nada....noppes....zero...etc etc.

 

Thanks for that link Sjoerd.

Have a look at this one: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627310003259 especially the paragraph on: Paralimbic Structures as Part of an Intrinsic Noise-Cancellation System

"NAc" is the Nucleus Accumbens which is the part of the brain responsible for pleasure and reward.

 

The medical device CE Mark is required for the approved sale of any medical device in Europe. It certifies the safety and efficacy of the mutebutton tinnitus treatment and the competency of Neuromod Devices in being able to bring an approved medical device to market to treat this chronic condition,2 he said

http://www.businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=3237200;s=rollingnews.htm

 

@Sjoerd Excellent observations! I too would love for this treatment to work. And, while it's useful to learn about brain plasticity and multi-modal stimulation, we need to see why this specific treatment will work. Where are the clinical trials? Why has nothing been published on this specific invention?

This absence strongly suggests the device does not work as advertised.

But I hope I'm wrong!

@Silvine Thanks for the research! You did a great job pulling together why both the auditory and non-auditory areas of the brain are interconnected in tinnitus. And I do believe approaches like the Mute Button hold much promise. I just don't like devices that are marketed without being vetted first--and that only occurs in clinical trials.

 

Does anyone try mutebutton in this forum (irish people) ?

 

they are too busy drinking pints of guinness !!

 

Anyone try this yet?

 

There are a good few Irish people on the forum, myself included. Of the members here I can't imagine any of them being interested in it for reasons documented throughout the thread.

Id imagine feedback on mutebutton will appear elsewhere on the web. And bear in mind it was only launched, could be several months into the new year before reports appear.