The AudioNotch Tinnitus Treatment Blog

An exciting new avenue for research is Vagal Nerve Stimulation (click here to see a wikipedia article on the Vagus Nerve). Consider the following:

In another paper in the journal Experimental Neurology, Kilgard led a team that paired vagus nerve stimulation with audio tones of varying speeds to alter the rate of activity within the rats’ brains. The team reported that this technique induced neural plasticity within the auditory cortex, which controls hearing.

This is exciting news because there is strong evidence that tinnitus is induced by persistent changes to the central nervous system (neural plasticity). The problem is that it is difficult to induce persistent changes that undo the self perpetuating neurological circuit that creates the tinnitus tone. The solution then, is to find a mechanism that increases the plasticity (how easy it is to change) of the central nervous system, and disrupt the neuronal organization that causes tinnitus. This may be that mechanism.

The UT Dallas researchers are working with a device developed by MicroTransponder, a biotechnology firm affiliated with the University. MicroTransponder currently is testing a vagus nerve stimulation therapy on human patients in Europe in hopes of reducing or eliminating the symptoms of tinnitus, the debilitating disorder often described as “ringing in the ears.”

Best,
AudioNotch