Does Magnetic Stimulation Help Tinnitus? (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation)

Image from NeuroStar Given media exposure, there has been greater public interest in the use of powerful magnetic impulses applied to the head in order to treat tinnitus . It is hypothesized that this treatment called repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) works by temporarily disrupting abnormally hyper-excitable brain circuits within the auditory cortex and resetting it to a more "normal" baseline. At this time, rTMS is FDA approved to treat depression only, but an…

8/01/2015 0

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New Test to Identify People at Risk of Permanent Hearing Loss from Loud Noises

In any industrialized country like the United States, everybody has been exposed to loud noises whether from a lawnmower, playing in a band, shooting guns, or going to a rock concert. It also seems that some people compared to others appear more prone to temporary hearing loss after such loud noise exposure. You know... it's the ringing, fullness, and hearing loss after leaving the loud noise event. And than over a few hours or days, the hearing comes back to normal. This temporary hear…

9/01/2014 0

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Hearing Loss Over Time

It is well-known that professional musicians have a higher risk of hearing loss and tinnitus compared to non-musicians. According to one study , the risk for musicians is 1.5x for hearing loss and nearly 4x for tinnitus. And although people understand that as you get older, hearing loss increases, what is less clear is how quickly hearing loss occurs over time. After analyzing over 3 million subjects , here is the graph of hearing loss with age. Intuitively, I thought there would have bee…

5/03/2014 0

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Law Firm Launches Website for Tinnitus Sufferers

It would be a sad day indeed if a patient google searches a medical condition or symptom and the first page of results are all pointing to a law firm. In perhaps the beginning towards this possibility, personal injury law firm, Mercury Legal Online , has launched a website dedicated to patients who suffer tinnitus and hearing loss sustained from time working in a job that contained a lot of loud noise without using hearing protection . Thanks to  @earsurgeonuk who brought this to my att…

9/09/2013 0

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Medications that (Might) Help Tinnitus?

The blunt answer is that there is no drug or supplement that has been consistently found to help with tinnitus (ringing of the ears). Here's a partial table showing all the research that has been done either proving or disproving effectiveness to treat tinnitus (info collected from this review paper ). For a more comprehensive list going over 17 drugs, click here . Drug Research That Supports Research That Disputes …

7/09/2013 1

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Can Melatonin Stop Ringing in the Ears (Tinnitus)?

In a rigorous study, researchers have found that taking melatonin 3mg nightly for 1 month did significantly help with patients suffering from chronic tinnitus (ringing in the ears). Of course, the caveats are that melatonin significantly helped in patients with these specific characteristics: • Male • No history of depression • Tinnitus has been present for a long time • History of loud noise exposure • Tinnitus is severe and on both sides Given melatonin is a relatively benign sup…

7/07/2013 0

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Mozart May Help with Tinnitus

Currently, there is no fast, good, and cheap way of resolving tinnitus . Tinnitus is in essence hearing a ringing or buzzing that does not exist in reality. At best, it may be something you hear, but does not bother. At worst, it can literally drive a person crazy. Neuromonics is perhaps one of the very few treatment protocols that has been proven to work resolving/improving tinnitus in 80-90% of patients over a period of months. However, it is expensive... typically around $6000 out-o…

10/03/2012 0

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Kissing the Ear Can Cause Permanent Hearing Loss

MSNBC reported 3/29/12 about a phenomenon called cochlear ear-kiss injury. This condition is when hearing loss occurs after a person kisses someone else over the ear, usually a mom over a baby's or child's ear. Right after the kiss, a person can suffer from immediate and potentially permanent hearing loss along with other symptoms including  ringing , sensitivity to sound, sound distortion, and aural fullness. How or why does this occur? With a kiss, a strong suction is create…

3/29/2012 0

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Will.i.am Suffers From Tinnitus

And yet another celebrity reports suffering from bad tinnitus or ringing of the ears. Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am spoke with Britain's the Sun stating that the only time it doesn't bother him is when there's loud music. Read the news report here . Prevention is by far the best way to avoid suffering from this debilitating condition. How does one prevent this problem? Protect your ears from loud noises!!! Wear ear plugs if loud noise exposure is unavoidable. Unfortunately …

12/08/2010 0

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