MP3 Players to Quiet Tinnitus?

Ivanhoe Newswire
Monday, February 19, 2007; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Loud music can set the mood and get the blood pumping, but it can also cause tinnitus, a condition marked by ringing in the ears. It affects millions of Americans. Now, new research may provide a treatment to help quiet the noise.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine report low-pitched sound applied by an MP3 player can offer temporary relief to sufferers dealing with the high-pitched ringing from tinnitus.

UCI researcher Fan-Gang Zeng, Ph.D., and fellow colleagues discovered the benefit of an MP3 player while treating a patient with tinnitus. They first thought of using a treatment called masking, which uses a high-pitched sound to mask the ringing from tinnitus. They decided against that, though, because of the severity of tinnitus in their sufferer. They instead employed an opposite approach -- a low-pitched sound -- to quiet the high-pitched ringing. They created a low-pitched, pulsing sound, which was delivered to the patient via an MP3 player. This suppressed the high-pitched ringing tone from the tinnitus after about 90 seconds. The patient described the result as a high-level of continued relief.

Dr. Zeng reports, "The treatment does not represent a cure. This low-pitch therapeutic approach is only effective while being applied to the ear, after which the ringing can return. But it 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."

Another doctor from UCI who treats hearing disorders points out a custom sound can be created for patients who suffer from tinnitus, who can then download it to their personal MP3 players and use it when they need relief.

Dr. Zeng reports: "Tinnitus is one of the most common hearing disorders in the world, but very little is understood about why it occurs or how to treat it. We are very pleased and surprised by the success of this therapy, and hopefully with further testing it will provide needed relief to the millions who suffer from tinnitus."

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SOURCE: Presented at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology 30th MidWinter Meeting in Denver, Feb. 10-15, 2007