You learn to adjust to life with tinnitus. You always keep the television on to help you tune out the persistent ringing. You refrain from going out for happy hour with friends because the loud music at the bar makes your tinnitus worse for days. You’re always making appointments to try new techniques and therapies. Ultimately, your tinnitus just becomes something you integrate into your day-to-day life.
The main reason is that tinnitus has no cure. But they may be getting close. We may be getting close to an effective and lasting cure for tinnitus according to research published in PLOS biology. For now, hearing aids can really be helpful.
The Exact Causes of Tinnitus Are Not Clear
Somebody who has tinnitus will hear a buzzing or ringing (or other sounds) that don’t have an outside source. Tinnitus is really common and millions of individuals deal with it on some level.
Generally speaking, tinnitus is itself a symptom of an underlying condition and not a cause in and of itself. Tinnitus is generally caused by something else. One of the reasons why a “cure” for tinnitus is elusive is that these root causes can be hard to narrow down. Tinnitus symptoms can occur due to a number of reasons.
True, most people attribute tinnitus to hearing loss of some kind, but even that relationship is unclear. Some individuals who have tinnitus do have hearing loss but some don’t.
Inflammation: a New Culprit
Research published in PLOS Biology detailed a study directed by Dr. Shaowen Bao, an associate professor of physiology at the Arizona College of Medicine in Tuscon. Mice who had noise-induced tinnitus were experimented on by Dr. Bao. And the results of these experiments indicated a culprit of tinnitus: inflammation.
Tests and scans carried out on these mice found that the areas of the brain in control of listening and hearing typically had considerable inflammation. As inflammation is the body’s response to damage, this finding does indicate that noise-related hearing loss could be creating some damage we don’t fully comprehend as yet.
But new kinds of treatment are also made possible by this knowledge of inflammation. Because inflammation is something we know how to address. The symptoms of tinnitus went away when the mice were given drugs that inhibited inflammation. Or it became impossible to detect any symptoms, at least.
So is There a Magic Pill That Cures Tinnitus?
This research does seem to indicate that, eventually, there might actually be a pill for tinnitus. Imagine that, instead of investing in these numerous coping mechanisms, you can just pop a pill in the morning and keep your tinnitus at bay.
We may get there if we can tackle a few hurdles:
- The precise cause of tinnitus will be distinct from one individual to another; it’s hard to know (at this point) whether all or even most tinnitus is related to inflammation of some sort.
- Mice were the focus of these experiments. And there’s a long way to go before this specific approach is considered safe and approved for people.
- We need to be certain any new approach is safe; it may take some time to identify specific side effects, complications, or issues related to these particular inflammation-blocking medicines.
So it may be a while before there’s a pill for tinnitus. But it’s no longer impossible. That’s significant hope for your tinnitus down the road. And, obviously, this approach in treating tinnitus isn’t the only one currently being researched. Every new discovery, every new bit of knowledge, brings that cure for tinnitus just a little bit closer.
What Can You do Now?
In the meantime, individuals who suffered from tinnitus should feel hopeful that in the future there will be a cure for tinnitus. There are modern treatments for tinnitus that can produce genuine results, even if they don’t necessarily “cure” the underlying issue.
Some strategies include noise-cancellation devices or cognitive therapies designed to help you ignore the sounds linked to your tinnitus. Many individuals also find relief with hearing aids. A cure might be many years off, but that doesn’t mean you need to deal with tinnitus alone or unassisted. Obtaining a treatment that is effective can help you spend more time doing what you love, and less time thinking about that buzzing or ringing in your ears.
References
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000307
https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/brain-inflammation-identified-potential-target-treat-tinnitus
