Electric Shocks, Like Pop Rocks on Your Tongue, Could Offer Relief to Tinnitus Sufferers
That ringing in your ears could be treated by small electric shocks and a pair of earphones, according to a new study.
A team of researchers led by Neuromod Devices Limited has come up with an unusual way to treat tinnitus — by administrating a gentle electric shock to the tongue in partnership with auditory therapy.
"Tinnitus is a phantom auditory perception coded in the brain that can be bothersome or debilitating, affecting 10 to 15% of the population," the researchers explain in the abstract to their paper. "Currently, there is no clinically recommended drug or device treatment for this major health condition."
"Animal research has revealed that sound paired with electrical somatosensory stimulation can drive extensive plasticity within the brain for tinnitus treatment. To investigate this bimodal neuromodulation approach in humans, we evaluated a non-invasive device that delivers sound to the ears and electrical stimulation to the tongue in a randomized, double-blinded, exploratory study that enrolled 326 adults with chronic subjective tinnitus."
For the treatment, which took twelve weeks to complete, patients wore headphones playing back therapeutic audio while holding a small electronic "lollipop" on their tongues. As the audio played, the tongue was shocked - a feeling like holding Pop Rocks in your mouth — and resulted in a reduction in tinnitus symptoms which lasted for 12 months post-treatment.
In short, the system appears to hold considerable potential for the illness — but more studies are required. Neuroscientist Victoria Bajo told Science Mag that a lack of control group means it's hard to tell how much of the improvement was down to the device itself and how much to the placebo effect of simply using the device.
The team's work has been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine; the hardware used is already approved for sale in Europe, but has not yet been cleared by the FDA for sale in the US.
