The ringing, humming or hissing sound of silence, known as tinnitus, can range in intensity from mildly bothersome to completely excruciating. Tinnitus affects up to 15% of American people; of them, approximately 40% have chronic symptoms for which they actively search treatment.

According to a new study conducted by scientists at the Kresge Hearing Research Institute at the University of Michigan, help may be within reach.

Susan Shore, Ph.D., Professor Emerita in Michigan Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology, assisted in groundbreaking research on how the brain processes bi-sensory information and how the findings can be utilized to create personalized treatment for tinnitus. The results were published in JAMA Network Open.

The study was a randomized, double-blind clinical trial where 99 people with somatic tinnitus participated. Somatic tinnitus is a form of the ailment in which movements like jaw clenching or applying pressure to the forehead results in fluctuations of pitch and volume of the sounds. Somatic tinnitus is the most common type; roughly 70% of tinnitus sufferers fall into that category.

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Shore said individuals with disruptive somatic tinnitus and mild to moderate hearing loss were permitted to enroll.

“After enrollment, participants received a portable device developed and manufactured by in2being, LLC, for in-home use,” she said. “The devices were programmed to present each participant’s personal tinnitus spectrum, which was combined with electrical stimulation to form a bi-sensory stimulus, while maintaining participant and study team blinding.”

Personalized tinnitus treatment brings better quality of life

Participants were put into one of two groups at random. The first group got active, or bi-Bisensory treatment device and stimuli. Credit: JAMA Network Open 2023sensory, treatment first, whereas the second group received passive, or sound-only, treatment first.

Participants were told to use their devices for a half hour every day for the first six weeks. The subjects took a rest for the next six weeks. Then, for another six weeks, they got the therapy that they did not get at the start of the experiment.

The researchers found that when people got the bi-sensory treatment, their quality of life generally got better, handicap scores got lower, and tinnitus became less intense. However, these results did not occur when the only stimulation was sound.

In addition, following six weeks of active therapy but not control treatment, more than 60% of subjects reported noticeably decreased tinnitus symptoms. This is in line with a prior study by Shore's team, which demonstrated that the length of active therapy individuals got led to a more substantial decline in their tinnitus symptoms.

“This study paves the way for the use of personalized, bi-sensory stimulation as an effective treatment for tinnitus, providing hope for millions of tinnitus sufferers,” said Shore.