New help for tinnitus sufferers

To some people it's a ringing, for others buzzing and still others hear a whooshing sound or ocean waves. While the symptoms are subjective, what's certain is that millions of Americans -- including tens of thousands of Iraq and Afghan war veterans -- experience a perception of sound in the ears or head when there is no external source making such sound.

The condition is called tinnitus (it can be pronounced TIN-itus or tin-NIGHT-us) and while many people experience such noise now and then, the most profound sufferers -- about 12 million Americans -- hear it virtually around the clock.

It's estimated that half of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have tinnitus and 400,000 veterans of all wars collected disability payments for the problem in 2006. The Pentagon takes the problem seriously enough that it's preparing to sponsor as much as $50 million in new research on tinnitus over the next several years.

Dr. Andrew Cheng, an ear, nose and throat specialist at New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., says while the loud explosions of warfare and the noise of war machines may be responsible for the condition in many veterans, much of the damage in the civilian population is self-inflicted.

While tinnitus is generally thought to develop and become worse with age, Cheng says, "with the increased use of the newest devices that stream loud sounds directly into the ear, such as iPods and hands free phones, the growing epidemic of ear-ringing is becoming a more widespread problem among younger people."

Noise damage to the ear is not the only cause of ringing. It can be brought on by some medications that are toxic to the inner ear or just produce the ringing as a side effect. Head and neck trauma can produce the ringing, as can a misaligned jaw and some other medical problems like thyroid disorders and Lyme disease.

There is no magic cure for the problem. Sometimes treating underlying conditions make it go away. Doctors like Cheng specialize in diet and lifestyle changes, including avoiding stress and taking nutritional supplements, but also use acupuncture and noise override strategies.

Even before the new stream of research money begins to circulate, several innovations are being tried.

Some hearing clinics are working with a device called the Oasis, which masks the ringing sound with faint music after being specially calibrated to the specific frequencies the patient report hearing.

Doctors in Germany are preparing to start a clinical trial of a device that uses magnetic stimulation to produce low-frequency waves into the brain that are meant to stop nerve cells from "hearing" the noise.

But perhaps the most novel research efforts against tinnitus don't directly involve people, but a fish. Specifically, the research is on zebrafish, which not only have ears, but ears that are pretty similar to human ears.

Ernest Moore, an audiologist and cell biologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, and a tinnitus sufferer himself, thinks he's been able to induce the condition in the fish by exposing them to certain drugs. They demonstrate agitation from the ringing by erratic swimming. And Moore has analyzed cells in zebrafish ears and found signs of increased electric firing in the nerves.

Then, Moore has attempted to slow this effect by giving the fish other drugs, which appear to slow down the firing in the hair-like cells of the ear.

Moore is in discussions with several ear specialists about starting human trials of some of drugs shown most promising in the fish. "If these drugs are found to be safe -- and some of them are already on the market for other uses -- and they're found to have efficacy in humans, then they might be able to help some people with this intractable problem," Moore said.

"If the hair cell is not totally damaged, and you administer these drugs, you might be able to prevent further damage and interfere with the cells' ability to generate tinnitus," he added.

In the meantime, Cheng and other tinnitus specialists suggest protection from loud noise -- including use of earplugs, turning down the volume of audio devices, and avoiding stimulants, especially caffeine and nicotine.

He also advises sufferers to monitor and control blood pressure and to decrease, if not eliminate, salt intake. "In some cases, tinnitus results when the fluids of the inner ear mix. Therefore, the less fluid retained in the body, the less opportunity there is for them to mix in the inner ear."

On the Net: www.ata.org

(Reach Lee Bowman at bowmanl(at)shns.com