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Malady of Tinnitus: low-pitched pulsing sound effective treatment and pulsatile tinnitus
Part 8 |
Using a low-pitched pulsing sound to treat tinnitus
UC Irvine researchers, Fan-Gang Zeng—professor of otolaryngology, biomedical engineering, cognitive sciences, and anatomy and neurobiology—and colleagues, have found an effective way to treat high frequency tinnitus.
Rather than using a high-pitched sound to mask the tinnitus, the opposite approach, using a low-pitched pulsing sound, provided unexpectedly effective results! The low pitched, pulsing sound of 40 to 100 hertz was described as a "calming, pleasant tone." They tried this method on a cochlear implant patient, using an MP3 player. After about 90 seconds, this method provided a "high-level of continued relief" for this patient.
Professor Zeng is currently studying how to apply this method for people who do not use hearing aids. While this treatment does not provide a cure, it is proving to be effective while being applied to the ear.
Dr. Hamid Djalilian, a UCI physician who treats hearing disorders, finds this treatment very promising for tinnitus sufferers, pointing out that a custom sound for each patient could be downloaded into their own MP3 player and be ready for them to use when they require relief.
According to Dr. Zeng, this discovery "underscores the need to customize stimulation for tinnitus suppression and suggests that balanced stimulation, rather than masking, is the brain mechanism underlying this surprising finding."
Pulsatile Tinnitus
A relative of mine sent me the following correspondence with Dr. Donohue which she found online:
| "DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I have a serious problem. I say "serious" because I have had a doctor laugh at me for asking the following question, for which, incidentally, I paid $25. For about six years, I can hear my heartbeat loudly in my left ear. No one can tell me why. I hear it 24/7. I am about to lose my sanity. I pray you can help. — D.M." |
"Lots of people hear their heartbeat in one or both ears. The condition is called pulsatile tinnitus. One of the biggest causes for it is artery hardening, something that comes with age. Blood flowing through less flexible arteries near the ear becomes noisy. People hear their own heartbeat. Caffeinated beverages make the beating louder.
"Put a radio at your bedside and tune it to soothing music at night. The music can often muffle the heartbeat sound. If music doesn't work, then turn the radio to a location where you hear static. Static often gets rid of the heartbeat noise. Sometimes changing the head position abolished the beating sound.
"A few rare conditions produce pulsatile tinnitus—a narrowed neck artery, an artery-vein malformation, a damaged aortic heart valve and high blood pressure are examples. I would guess these conditions would have been discovered in the past six years you have had the problem."
| Objective Tinnitus
Pulsatile tinnitus is also classified as objective tinnitus when others are able to hear the sound.
Fluctuating Tinnitus
It is not unusual for tinnitus to come and go. Sometimes this means that the tinnitus is preparing to go away. Sometimes tinnitus is affected by the barometric pressure: when the barometric pressure is up, the tinnitus increases; when it goes down, the tinnitus does likewise.
It is suggested that one pays close attention to one's tinnitus—what may bring on the good and bad phases. Remember, diet and medication can play a large part in affecting one's tinnitus. |
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| (Article 0706, Part 8. Originally published March/April 2007) |
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