BBC Report Indicates Hope for Sufferers of Tinnitus
A report from the BBC has revealed that there have been advances in the way that tinnitus is to be treated.
Tinnitus is sound in the ears that are said to have no exterior source, known as the sound of silence it can be defined as a buzzing or ringing sound.
The report highlights how more than a third of people will be affected by tinnitus at some point in their lives, and the effects of this condition can be quite severe, ranging from depression and anxiety to insomnia and social disorders, with extreme cases leading individuals to suicide.
Because the condition is silent, and only heard by the individual suffering from the condition, tinnitus can leave people feeling isolated and lonely and many have been led to believe that there is no cure, however, a neurologist in Germany believes hearing cells (overactive in those suffering with tinnitus) can be normalised by using an electric current.
By using this technique, Berthold Langguth has cured one person completely of their condition, and many patients have experienced a reduction in volume.
Other methods are being pioneered by doctors worldwide, and Dirk De Ridder, a neurosurgeon from Belgium has implanted electrodes into the brain, and has also had great results from the 30 patients he has treated.
Researchers in Cambridge found that lidocaine, a common form of anaesthetic can mute the sound for minutes at a time, the report suggests, indicating that there is in fact ways in which tinnitus can be treated.
The Consultant Audiologist at the Cambridge hospital – David Baguley said: “My hope, which is cautiously optimistic, is that we will see a drug available to sufferers within a 20 year period”.