View clinical trials related to Tinnitus.
Filter by:The purpose of this research is to understand how a neuromodulation technique, transcranial electrical stimulation (tES), affects brain function in adults with chronic tinnitus measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We hypothesize that multiple sessions of tES (5 consecutive days) will modulate: 1. Overall activity and local connectivity within brain regions near tES electrodes, and 2. Functional connectivity within brain networks associated with brain regions near tES electrodes. In exploratory analyses, we also measure the extent to which the hypothesized changes listed above a related to changes in tinnitus symptoms after tES.
This is a four arm, patient subtyping and parameter optimisation study for a neuromodulation treatment for tinnitus.
Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, affects 10% to 30% of the population. Of those, 20% have tinnitus bothersome enough to seek medical attention. In many people, tinnitus can significantly affect the quality of life. At this point in time, there is no effective treatment or cure available for tinnitus. It has been found that electrical stimulation of the inner ear can reduce and in some cases eliminate tinnitus. The purpose of this research is to investigate both acoustic and electrical stimulation of the inner ear as a possible treatment of tinnitus. In both acoustic and electrical testing conditions, the subjects will be instructed to be familiar with a 0-10 ranking scale of loudness. In acoustic testing, the stimulus will be presented through headphones in a noiseless environment, and the subject will be asked to report on the loudness of the presented sound and the level of the tinnitus at 20-second intervals. If the subject cannot perceive the presence of the tinnitus, a value of zero will be assigned. A typical sound will be presented for 3 to 6 minutes. Loudness will be reported for 1 to 4 minutes after stimulus offset to measure the presence and duration of residual inhibition. Electrical stimulation will be delivered to the inner ear in three ways, 1. using a cochlear implant (implant placed in the inner ear to replace hearing function), 2. Using an electrode placed in the ear canal, and 3. using a small needle inserted through the ear drum. Various electrical signals will be used to evaluate the reduction in the tinnitus perception by the subject. The subjects will rate the loudness of the tinnitus before, during, and after the electrical signal. Surveys will be used to evaluate the tinnitus loudness and the quality of life of the subjects. Hearing tests will be used before and after the procedures. The long term goal of this research is to develop a device to treat tinnitus in people who can hear and to develop programs for cochlear implants that help treat tinnitus in deaf people.
The purpose of this project is to validate a quick, easy-to-use and administer smartphone hearing-in-noise test. The Hearing-in-Noise Test (HINT) measures an individual's ability to hear speech in quiet and in noise. HINTs are traditionally done testing both ears together as binaural hearing ability is key in noisy settings and everyday, functional hearing. The app (called HearMe) can potentially be used to easily and quickly collect hearing-in-noise and speech-in-noise measurements. The smartphone app developed is a hearing-in-noise test that presents the subject with a series of stimuli consisting of a spoken three-digit sequence presented at a varying hearing-to-noise ratio. For each stimulus presentation, the user tap the three-digit sequence. The duration of the app is less than 3 minutes. For this project the investigators will test at least 50 subjects with hearing loss and 50 control subjects between the ages of 18-80. The subjects will be invited to take the app. The approach for this pilot study is to characterize hearing-in-noise thresholds (also referred to as a speech-reception threshold) as measured by the app in both subject groups, and relate it to the phenotype of each group as a preliminary evaluation of the app as well as a preliminary validation against their routinely collected measurements of hearing function (pure-tone audiometry thresholds). The study will assess the validity of the test construct in measuring hearing-in-noise thresholds, and serve as a foundation for further iterative designs of the app and future validation and characterization studies. This study seeks to validate a developed smartphone HINT on an initial cohort of patients and controls. It is anticipated that patients with hearing loss will display higher signal-to-noise ratio thresholds (as measured by the iPhone app) compared to controls.
Therapy of subjective chronic primary tinnitus could be challenging. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is currently being tested for suppressing the symptoms. However, effect of stimulation remains controversial. The aim was to uncover real effect of rTMS stimulation for tinnitus treatment. There will be three groups, stimulation group, sham stimulation group and controlled group with medicament treatment. The investigators assume that combination of rTMS stimulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and primary auditory cortex at both sides will be more efficient. The investigators considered a 10% improvement in the tinnitus questionnaire score and in the tinnitus masking to be clinically relevant.
There is evidence that CBT for insomnia (CBTi) is an effective treatment for sleep disturbance both as a primary problem and when co-morbid with other health problems, such as chronic pain. This study will investigate the effectiveness of CBTi as a treatment for tinnitus related insomnia. Tinnitus patients reporting clinically significant insomnia will be offered sleep-specific treatment. Six sessions of CBTi will be offered to one group of patients and 2 sessions standard audiological care (psycho-education and sleep hygiene) will be offered to another group. Both groups will be offered sound enrichment at night. In order to take account of the possible effects of clinical contact a third group will be offered 6 sessions of support without a focused tinnitus or sleep intervention. Accepted measures of sleep disturbance will be used as well as measures of tinnitus complaint. All treatment/contact will be provided at the Royal National Throat Nose & Ear Hospital. Participants will be involved in the study (inc. baseline period {2 weeks}, intervention {8 weeks} and follow-ups {4 and 20 weeks}) for 34 weeks.
This is a prospective, randomized, single-center clinical study aiming to explore the safety and efficacy of venous stenting for patients with internal jugular vein stenosis (IJVS).
Tinnitus is perception of sound without the presence of an external acoustic stimulus. Approximately 50 million Americans experience chronic tinnitus and of these, 10 million have bothersome tinnitus. The tinnitus research literature suggests that NMDA receptor antagonists may prove to be useful in reducing tinnitus. Nitrous oxide, a member of the NMDA receptor antagonist class, is a widely-used general anesthetic and sedative with a proven safety profile. The investigators hypothesized that the administration of nitrous oxide, an NMDA receptor antagonist, may be effective in treatment of tinnitus. The study design was a randomized placebo-controlled crossover trial.
Tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, is a very common problem that often accompanies hearing loss. It affects up to 1 in 10 adults, and about 30% of people who experience chronic tinnitus find it very distressing. In these patients, symptoms of depression and anxiety often accompany tinnitus and there are no approved treatments. Clinical trials are ongoing to test a glutamate NMDA receptor antagonist (called esketamine), which is injected into the inner ear. However, the preliminary results with this medication show that it only works for tinnitus that results from acute injury. It does not treat tinnitus resulting from progressive hearing loss. Research in humans and animals suggest that the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA are important in the development and maintenance of tinnitus. This data shows that over-activation of the NMDA receptor and a decrease in GABA signaling in the brain play a crucial role. Previous studies show that ketamine, which an antagonist at the NMDA receptor, increases GABA levels in the brain in participants with depression. Thus, in this experiment, this study will test the effect of ketamine on tinnitus, since it blocks the NMDA glutamate receptor and increase GABA levels. Two groups of participants will be included in this study: those who experience distress (symptoms of anxiety or depression) with tinnitus and those who have tinnitus but do not experience distress. Each participant will receive both ketamine and placebo on different days. Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) scans will be
This device-study includes a pilot, physiological investigation of normal human subjects. The aim is to determine how existing non-invasive neuromodulation devices affect brain circuitry as measured by EEG recording. Currently, the application of non-invasive neuromodulation is rarely guided by detailed knowledge of how neural activity is altered in the brain circuits that are targeted for intervention. This gap in knowledge is problematic for interpreting response variability, which is common. To address this gap, the current proposal aims to combine two forms of neuromodulation sequentially, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), to regulate homeostatic plasticity prior to rTMS delivery at different frequencies of rTMS. Homeostatic plasticity, the initial activation state of a targeted circuit, is a key determinant of whether rTMS induces long term potentiation (LTP) or long term depression (LTD) Yet, homeostatic plasticity is rarely measured or controlled in rTMS studies. We aim to control homeostatic plasticity by preconditioning the targeted circuits with tDCS prior to rTMS delivery. The protocol included an exploratory aim to examine physiological changes in patients with tinnitus but this aim was not part of the pilot physiological investigation and it could not be completed due to funding limitations.