New tinnitus treatment involves tongue buzzing and electronic music: Study

Neuromod Devices Limited or “Neuromod”, the Irish medical device company specializing in the treatment of chronic tinnitus has found that shocking the tongue—combined with a designed sound program can actually cure titans (medical condition marked by constant ringing or buzzing in the ears). The firm published the clinical trial results of TENT A1 (Treatment Evaluation of Neuromodulation for Tinnitus) in the Science Translational Medicine journals. As per the findings published in paper titled ‘Bimodal neuromodulation combining sound and tongue stimulation reduces tinnitus symptoms in a large randomized clinical study’, neuromod’s stimulation devices reduced tinnitus symptom severity, eventually eradication in some cases. 

“The trial investigated the bimodal neuromodulation approach, using Neuromod’s non-invasive stimulation device that delivers sound to the ears and electrical stimulation to the tongue,” scientists explained in the clinical results.

It further said that the sound and electrical stimulation of the tongue resulted in therapeutic effects on tinnitus patients, and soothed the symptoms over a prolonged period of time. Nearly 77.8 percent of 273 participants, according to the company, recommend the sound stimulation technique to others, citing the reduction of the buzzing of the ears. 

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Tinnitus symptoms 'didn’t resurge'

Meanwhile, 80.1 percent of the total volunteers experienced continued improvement in tinnitus symptoms. The participants were also monitored for over 12-months post-treatment and reported their symptoms didn’t resurge. The clinical trial was conducted between 2016 and 2019 and employed a bi-modal neuromodulation approach with neuromod’s non-invasive stimulation device that created audio circulations in the ears via headphones and electrical stimulation to the tongue at the same time.

This proved to be a promising indicator of minimizing the condition. The study was conducted by researchers at Wellcome Trust-HRB Clinical Research Facility, in collaboration with St. James’s Hospital, Dublin, Ireland, and the Tinnituszentrum of the University Regensburg, Germany. “No SAEs Serious Adverse Events, SAEs related to the treatment were observed and a high satisfaction rate was reported across a large cohort of participants,” the study purported. As many as 326 enrolled participants used neuromod’s Lenire device for at least 60 minutes daily for 12 weeks at or above the minimum compliance level of 36 hours over the 12-week treatment period for these results to show up. 

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