Your Questions for Dr. Josef Rauschecker Interview

Can you get on TED Talk again and plug your fundraiser? It's all about raising awareness at this point.

 

Do you know if there will be one cure or treatment regardless of how a person got tinnitus?

 

Should tinnitus sufferers protect themselves from everyday noise (e.g. in a moving car) more than non-tinnitus sufferers?

Many tinnitus sufferers report considerable daily fluctuations in intensity. What explanation do you have for this?

 

- why can tinnitus be intermittent
- why can one have a completely different sound in each ear
- is the level of “safe sound exposure” different for people with tinnitus. Do they have to wear extra hearing protection to prevent worsening?

 

Did you hear about a clinic in South Korea and Dr Minbo Shim who claims:

"We have integrated new technologies for hearing loss recovery. Our doctors learned how to control the regeneration process of cells and tissue. (He doesn't say what cells and what tissue) We can restore hearing even in most severe cases. Today we have patients coming to us from all over the world including eastern parts of Russia."​

It seems that the treatment is conducted with intratympanic injections of "platelet-rich plasma"

He has made a patent of his technique in Russia and seems to advertise curing/helping the tinnitus recovery through this process.

What can we expect from this kind of treatment in your opinion?

 

What are your thoughts on the putative importance of improving the diagnostics of so-called ultra-high frequency hearing loss and hidden hearing loss in relation to tinnitus?

Hope this is not too open-ended but I would really like to hear Dr. Rauschecker expound on these forms of hearing loss and their relation to tinnitus.

 

If your hypothesis is proven, when is the start date for a human clinical trial?

What is the connection between the brain and ears when it comes to tinnitus? Do you have a hypothesis to fix them both?

Also, how are you going to fix a person if they have multiple tinnitus noises?

 

Is it possible to receive a quarterly update from your lab which can be posted on Tinnitus Talk to keep members and others aware of your progress?

 

Is there an insulin response / personal food intolerance that can lead to tinnitus, exacerbate tinnitus or prevent tinnitus from healing?

I ask this because as some have stated, young people with limited noise exposure will get it, but some older people don't have it working in loud environments.

 

What do you think about neurofeedback therapy? Could it really be helpful in treating tinnitus?

 

You said help is coming soon, how soon?

 

In the case of somatic tinnitus, do neck muscles just contribute to the already existing tinnitus or they themselves generate tinnitus?
Will it gradually become worse with my age?

 

Adding to this, have you uncovered connections between tinnitus and other neurological conditions such as migraines or restless leg syndrome? If so, do these conditions share similar brain dysfunctions? Is it possible that treating one such condition would help with treating tinnitus (or alternatively, treating one would aggravate tinnitus symptoms).

 

I have mild hearing loss. Why prednisolone makes my tinnitus almost completely disappear (6 months, one year after the onset)? Does that mean that my tinnitus is caused by an inflammation and not by hearing loss?

 

Is there a connection between stress, glutamate and tinnitus?

 

Do you think that many different causes lead to one uniform disease, the tinnitus?
Or do you consider tinnitus to be a generic term for many different diseases associated with ear noise.

 

Which treatment would be more suitable for tinnitus and hyperacusis both: TRT or Acoustic CR Neuromodulaton. What is the difference between the two?

 

It has been a couple of years since the TED Talk discussion that presented the gating theory/mechanism (perhaps even longer since the underlying research took place).

What has been taking place since this time, has additional research been done, etc?

In essence, why are we only now looking at building a model in primates as opposed to over the past couple of years, aka why the delay?

Thank you for all of your hard work, it is much appreciated.

 

At the end of his TED Talk he said “Help is on the way, we will have something for you soon.” I’m also curious about what these past two years have done for his research.

 

Why for some people tinnitus tends to get better with the time and for some it gets worse or stays at the same level?

 

This is awesome! Thank you for this opportunity @Tinnitus Talk

My question to Dr. Rauschecker is: What is your opinion on drugs that are used by so many for management of tinnitus, but which may also cause tinnitus or subsequently worsen it during a withdrawal; for example benzodiazepines (clonazepam etc.) viz Professor Heather Ashton's manual: protracted withdrawal symptoms, or as shown in the documentary by Shane Kenny 'The Benzodiazepine Medical Disaster' (with Prof Heather Ashton and Prof Malcolm Lader OBE)? If they do damage with relation to tinnitus, is it reversible or not (excitotoxicity e.g.)?

Thank you for your attention.

 

My reactive tinnitus gets so loud that I can’t hear my own voice sometimes. And the sounds come from my head moreso than my ears. And then it usually goes back down once I’m in a quiet room again. I thought I was the only one but it seems there’s a lot of us out here.

For me, my reactive tinnitus leads to a whole slew of other secondary symptoms like visual snow and dizziness and palinopsia.
And again, I have found I’m not the only one.

Will your research address severe reactive tinnitus like described above? Or just the normal “chronic ringing in your ears” type of tinnitus.

 

Another question for Dr. Josef Rauschecker would be if tinnitus and hyperacusis share pathologies? And is there a difference between pain and loudness amplification hyperacusis.

 

What is your opinion on the concept of "reactive tinnitus"? Some people are adamant it doesn't exist.

 

What do you think about the fact that many "tinnitus clinics" provide hearing aids to almost all patients with moderate hearing loss?

 

Are a tinnitus sufferer's ears more prone to damage than the average people's ears? If so, why?

 

Do you think that efforts towards tinnitus subtyping are helpful?

 

In your opinion are the drug companies content with the status quo of doctors prescribing all manner of depression and anxiety and insomnia medication to tinnitus sufferers and have no real interest or incentive to ‘cure’ us as we’re already lining their pockets to the tune of billions a year and a cure would actually make them less money...... If you do not agree please explain why.

 

Would further diagnostic measures to objectify the tinnitus be helpful? (e.g. high-resolution MRT, determination of brain activity)

 

My tinnitus nearly all ways starts firstly in the morning. I either have a very bad attack or do or do not have it at all, depending entirely on my sleep pattern at night. How much does night time neural plasticity affect tinnitus. And can a treatment be initiated whilst a person is at sleep.