Overview: Promising Future Treatments for Tinnitus and Hearing Loss

"Dr. Kaltenback will use funding from ATA to explore three particularly promising chemical compounds as potential drug candidates, to target specific neural receptors related to the brain hyperactivity which underlies tinnitus. This work builds off of his previous research and could accelerate the development of commercially-available medications to silence tinnitus."

Is this similar to Autifony? And also three different promising compounds. Sounds good to me but I don't know much when it comes to science.

 

As I (slowly) adjust to the permanency of tinnitus, I'd like to retain a glimmer of hope that there will be a solid treatment for noise induced tinnitus in the next 5 years. Something that reliably lowers the volume so that it's less wearing, or modifies your response to it while allowing you to retain most of your daily autonomy (I'd happily accept having to be less mentally dexterous every day, work a simple job, and have silence right now).

As far as I can see, these are the most promising treatments presently and coming up:

AM-101 - phase 3 Q4 2014
AUT00036 - phase 2, Q1 2015
Retigabine - TT forum trials, Q4 2014
Otonomy - phase 1, Q? 2015

Are there any other potentials in the near future?

* Stem cell treatments
* Gene therapy for hair cell regrowth
* Any other treatments I'm not aware of

You can buy the chemical that regrows the hair cells in rats, but without concomitant injection of stem cells into the cochlear, you aren't reproducing the trial.

@attheedgeofscience and anyone else with some forward looking information. Please chime in.

 

See this (incl. attachment with info on all current otology pharmas):

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...ell-treatment-comments.1891/page-6#post-54877

 

Hi,

Could you please help me. I would like an overview of all known pharmacological treatments in clinical testing or planned for testing.

I know of the ones carried out by Autifony, Auris and Otonomy. Are there others?

Thank you in advance.

 

See:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/forums/clinical-trials.40/

and attachment.

 

VNS (Vagus Nerve Stimulation) and DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation) aims to treat chronic tinnitus.
Autifony claims to be aiming towards chronic tinnitus but phase 1 is for sub-acute cases so we really don't know.
I guess HIFU also is for chronic tinnitus.
And then there is AM-102 which is said to be for chronic tinnitus but that one is only in the pre-clinical stage now.

 

This may seem like an odd question, after all, don't all of these things listed here treat tinnitus? Well many do, but more often than not, "treatment" is not for tinnitus. The Gabapentin I recently stopped taking wasn't for tinnitus, it was prescribed to treat my anxiety/depression. The worthless procedure of CBT is also not a tinnitus treatment, but an anxiety treatment.

Things like TCAs and benzos are used for anxiety and somewhat tinnitus to give an example. So, my question is what therapies or drugs are used specifically FOR tinnitus? Not anxiety, not depression, not coping, and not habituation. What will actually antagonize the hyperactivity in the auditory cortex? What will actually lessen the sound and not just reduce its perception?

 

Nothing... there aren't yet drugs that have been approved for the treatment of tinnitus.

 

I also included therapies

 

I guess TRT, but I think it’s success is questionable. Meaning: did patients improve because of TRT or because of simply the passage of time?

It’s not unlike other conditions. There are some conditions with no cure, so doctors try to lessen the symptoms. For example, if tinnitus is the condition and depression is the symptom, there are treatment options for depression.

 

I think CBT is a scam. Stop pouring money into it and work on things like rTMS instead

 

Chiming in here to say that CBT did not help me with my tinnitus, but other things.
I think the idea of using behavioral therapy to treat issues that are mainly physical is a bad idea, and I don't like how so many doctors recommend it above more serious treatments.

 

TRT is a meme.

 

Who is pouring money into CBT who could instead invest in working on rTMS? Do you mean researchers? I did not think there was a lot of research going on regarding CBT.

And I do agree that CBT does not work for every condition, but nor would rTMS address every cause of depression.

 

I don't know. I think that getting rid of the tinnitus would, you know, get rid of the depression caused by it.

 

Right, but I’m not talking about only physical causes. There are other conditions (loss of loved one, difficult childhood, etc.) where rTMS would not address the cause. CBT is not only for tinnitus. Editing to add that it’s not even specifically for tinnitus treatment. TRT is but not CBT alone.

Are we saying rTMS can cure tinnitus? It would not do anything for my hearing loss.

 

True but We're talking about treatments for tinnitus. The main problem is all the working """""treatments""""" so far only addressed the stress caused by tinnitus. That's why I felt your comment was out of place here; not because it actually is (It definitely fits in here) but because it should be. CBT needs to be taken out of the conversation for tinnitus treatment.

As for other things sure it works. But for medical issues it really doesn't do anything. Notice how we don't call masking tinnitus "fixing it". Same logic applies here.

 

@Gl0w0ut Yesterday I listed most of the successful treatments for somatic tinnitus that I found from PubMed and professional studies.

Interesting in the days of super computers, there isn't a complete databank of tinnitus causes matched with most successful treatments. Major league baseball and football have complied millions of statistics into a computer program. By a search an announcer can within a second know how many incomplete passes over 20 yards a certain quarterback made. That also can be narrowed to exact yardage average over 20 yards, receiving player, against what team, the quarter of play, on the road or at home.

 

Ah, now I see. Yes, I agree. I had originally mentioned TRT but Equalizer brought up CBT, which is why I went that direction. They’re not exactly the same thing.

 

I may be depressed but that's only because if the tinnitus. I don't expect grieving people to use rTMS. I hate to be toxic but surely you can process what I'm saying better than that. I only care about TINNITUS, not depression that isn't related. Stop using CBT or TRT.

 

I thought you asked for therapies specific to tinnitus. I mentioned TRT, you mentioned CBT. They are not the exact same thing.

But like I said before, I question the success of TRT. And I do not think CBT cures nor treats tinnitus.

 

I think the main issue people have with these are the fact that it puts a bandaid over the issue. It sucks that there's nothing that can be done to actually help the issue at hand.

 

Agreed. Unfortunately this is what happens when we lack cures: we try to treat the symptoms.

We cannot cure terminal cancer, but doctors try to lessen the symptoms. We cannot cure tinnitus, so doctors recommend we try to treat the symptoms. This happens with many conditions.

Obviously curing the condition would take away the symptoms. But we cannot yet do that, so we are stuck with what we can do.

This is why I do not think we should criticize people who are trying to treat their symptoms. They’re doing what they can with what they have to work with. Would I prefer a cure? Absolutely! So what does treating my anxiety do? It helps me make it through each day, giving me a much better chance of still being here when a hearing loss cure or better treatment is available.

 

Hi Everyone,

I recently was diagnosed with Sudden Onset Tinnitus and High Frequency Hearing Loss back in June of this year which has devastated my life/career as I have a job that is solely based on the phone. The Doctors and ENT's have all told me there is no cure and nothing I can do about it except get hearing aids or Tinnitus Therapy and I would and hopefully will be able to afford to someday but they cost too much money for me to afford currently with no health coverage from my insurance company.

I was wondering if anyone in the forum knew of possible release date or progress for a tinnitus drug that would either get rid of the tinnitus or significantly reduce the sound since I have read this week there are at least 10 drug trials underway currently. I wanted to start a thread that listed any information about possible release dates and info on any upcoming tinnitus drugs/treatments and any success of any clinical trials to help spur hope for us all that are suffering from tinnitus. Hope is worth more than anything! If they came out with a cure even in the next 5 years I would be so happy and could look at it this condition like a temporary problem instead of looking at it like a life sentence. I know Stem Cells are also a very interesting topic with alot of positive momentum. Any information would be greatly appreciated and I think that if there is some drug coming out in the next few years even it would give us all hope who are having a hard time coping with this very disturbing and annoying condition. Any information would be greatly appreciated as I know there are some extremely intelligent people on this forum with big hearts so I check this site multiple times a day. I feel like Tinnitus doesn't get the attention it should from the medical companies. When I told my family I had it most of them said it couldn't be that bad, thought I was crazy and also had never heard of the condition. Im heading to Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto next week to see them about Tinnitus and find out what I find out about there research if they will share with me I will share with the forum anything I can find out about there research if they let me know. I am trying to book my appointment with one of the researchers who are leading up the project that I listed below.

SICL Project Stanford Hospital

https://hearinglosscure.stanford.edu/

The goal of SICHL is to devise treatments that repair the damaged inner ear and restore lost hearing, quiet tinnitus, and improve balance.

Any info on any tinnitus drugs currently under trial would be greatly appreciated my friends!

Thanks!

 

@Charles_T all the current drugs in the market don't treat or cure Tinnitus.. most of them is scam but few people mentioned that some of those drugs effect is only lowering the T Tone like Tinnitus formula which is a combination of Gingko Biloba, Garlic and Zinc..

Regarding your visit to Stanford Hospital, if you were lucky to find any useful info, please share it in the forum .. Good luck

 

@Tinker Bell, you are correct in that Cognitive Behavior Therapy does not cure or treat tinnitus, but it seems to definitely have value in other ways with regard to T and related conditions such as H.

I've recently become interested in CBT for problems I have which are related to my tinnitus, as I have used CBT in the past for other things, before I had T and H, and it worked well in those instances.

CBT can also guide and train people how to handle themselves when faced with problems that are associated with their tinnitus, such as anxiety, fear, anger, dismay, etc., so that they are less troubled. This may include how to stop themselves from making it worse, learn to accept that it is part of their existence, and help them to help themselves to become adjusted, and habituated, sooner. CBT is mostly thought-based, much of the work required of the patient, for whatever reason(s) they are taking it for, involves changing the way the individual thinks about, and responds to, his or her condition(s) and problems. CBT has been employed, tested, and proven effective for helping those with many conditions including chronic headaches. Until there is an actual cure for tinnitus, CBT seems to be one of the best methods currently available for handling the many problems that some of us experience due to it.

 

I am not new to tinnitus. I know there is no cure currently. However, its good to look forward for something.

What are the most promising treatments/cures in the pipeline that we can look forward too?
I came across otonomy 311.

 

Otonomy 311 looks likely to be for acute only tinnitus (sudden). Unfortunately it looks likely this won't do much for chronic, established tinnitus. It's still to be confirmed however.

Other things you can research

- Susan Shore signal timing
- Inner hair cell regeneration (Frequency Tx, Decibel Therapeutics)
- Xen-1101

 

tinnitus and hearing loss are life threatening because they cause suicide