The AudioNotch Tinnitus Treatment Blog

An interesting new paper has shown evidence that the administration of memantine, a drug that block NMDA-type glutamate receptors, may reduce the volume of chronic tinnitus. The research was performed in animals, although tinnitus response was measured by an indirect correlate (tinnitus-associated behaviour). Click here for the paper.

We re-investigated the effects of memantine on the behavioral manifestations of tinnitus induced by acoustic trauma (a 16-kHz, 110-dB pure tone presented unilaterally for 1 h) in rats. We used a conditioned lick suppression model in which lick suppression was associated with the perception of high frequency sound resembling tinnitus … A 5-mg/kg dose of memantine significantly reduced the proportion of these animals which exhibited tinnitus-like behavior (2/5 compared to 5/5; P ≤ 0.006), suggesting that the drug reduced tinnitus. These results suggest that memantine may reduce tinnitus caused by acoustic trauma.

Best,

AudioNotch