It’s not a subject I’ve posted about for a long time as, well, frankly, there are rarely developments to report. I’m talking, of course, about Tinnitus.
Personally speaking, I developed Tinnitus — a perpetual ringing in my right ear — in October of 1999, after years and years of systematic headphone abuse and blithely failing to wear hearing protection at loud rock shows. I woke up one morning, and the cumulative damage from those activities set off a piercing whistle in my right ear that I’ve spent the last 21 years living with. I tried a host of different remedies — from whey and ginkgo biloba trough ear-candling and a deceptively named homeopathic product called RingStop, but nothing ever worked. In time, I just acclimated, and started being more responsible about my hearing. After swearing off headphones for a couple of years, I went back to them, but am mindful of how loud I go. When attending loud concerts — remember those? — I am scrupulous in remembering to bring proper, weapons-grade earplugs.
While I am not necessarily bothered by the ring anymore, I am always aware that it is there, even as much as I’ve resigned myself to it. But I heard a fleeting mention of a new remedy for the condition on NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, “ this morning, and my curiosity was piqued.
It doesn’t promise a cure, but evidently there is a new treatment out of Ireland that is said to relieve the symptoms for up to a year. As promising as that sounds, the method — called bimodal neuromodulation treatment — sounds a bit odd. It involves electric shocks to the tongue to “retrain” the brain to become less aware of the ring.
Putting electrical devices in one’s mouth and messing around with the hardwiring of one’s own neuroanatomy both seem like iffy prospects, but I am indeed curious as to how this might all work.
If you, too, are curious, find out more info here.
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