Vitamins A, C and E

Noise-induced acoustic trauma is closely associated with free radical formation and reduced cochlear blood flow 7-10 days after noise exposure.

Animal trials have found that NIHL was preventable when the anti-oxidants Vitamin A, C and E were used with magnesium 1 hour before damaging noise exposure. Interestingly, vitamins or magnesium alone were not able to prevent NIHL or sensory cell death, but together they had a combined synergistic effect. These are encouraging results and it would be interesting to see how they translate to human NIHL trials [[i]].

Other vitamins for tinnitus

• ZInc
• Magnesium
• B12

Companies supplying Tinnitus Vitamins

• Arches
• T-gone

Clinical hypnotherapy is a common form of therapy for many emotional disorders including phobias, compulsions, unwanted habits, lack of self-confidence, or even physical conditions like irritable bowel syndrome and arthritis.

Hypnosis places the patient into a trance-like state which falls somewhere between wakefulness and sleep. It taps into the subconscious which hypnotherapists and psychologists claim is a source of many of our problems. Following the hypnotherapist’s communication with this section of the patient’s mind, it is believed that the patient can ‘unlearn’ conditioned habits which manifest in the real world as emotional or physical disorders.

As well as being a symptom of a physical condition like hearing loss, tinnitus is also deeply connected with the emotional and stress-causing centers of the brain. It seems logical to contend that if you can reduce the subconscious fear and anxiety caused by tinnitus using hypnotherapy, you can reduce the awareness of tinnitus and thus improve quality of life.

Hypnotherapists commonly quote a 70% success rate in promotional brochures, but although hypnotherapy has been used for tinnitus management for nearly 30 years, few studies have been conducted into its clinical efficacy.

A study in 2007 concluded that 5 to 10 sessions of Ericksonian hypnotherapy resulted in significant improvements in tinnitus for 35 patients with mild to severe tinnitus. These patients were also taught self-hypnosis so that they could continue therapy without a hypnotherapist[[i]].

These results have been vindicated by a larger study with 393 tinnitus sufferers who were also given Ericksonian hypnotherapy for 28 days. 88% of patients with chronic tinnitus showed improvement immediately after the sessions and 6 to 12 months after the therapy, indicating long-lasting results [[ii]].

Although both reports show a reduction in tinnitus, there were no control groups, so despite good statistics it cannot be determined whether the results are attributable to the therapeutic effects of hypnosis, or simply the counseling effect of talking to someone about their tinnitus. Indeed, a study has shown there was no difference in tinnitus reduction between patients who had three sessions of hypnotherapy compared to a single counseling session, indicating no real benefit [[iii]].

Also not all hypnotherapy is the same, ranging from traditional suggestive hypnosis to Ericksonian hypnotherapy to neuro-linguistic programming. These techniques will probably yield different results for different patients, and there is currently not enough research to ascertain which is most effective for tinnitus.

Some hypnotherapy regimes rely on self-hypnosis, which may not be a good option for everyone, particularly for the extremely elderly [[iv]]. Finally, the effectiveness of any psychological treatment will depend heavily on the person administering it, so it is worth assessing the reputation of local hypnotherapists before considering this treatment.

In this procedure, the patient is placed in a 100% oxygen pressurised chamber to improve oxygenation in the blood. It is used to treat decompression sickness (‘the bends’) and embolism and has also been used to treat tinnitus for many years. The theory of administering oxygen is based on experimental evidence that noise exposure causes hypoxia (reduced oxygen) in the cochlea which can be reversed by HBOT protecting sensory hair cells.

A review of 22 studies from 1960 to 2007 showed no significant difference between HBOT and placebo as treatment for tinnitus.  However, a clinical trial conducted last year at the University of Helsinki found that HBOT significantly improved the recovery of hearing with reduced tinnitus persistence in patients who received HBOT when compared to a sham-pressurised chamber which had normal atmospheric oxygen. Both this study and earlier work found HBOT is most effective when used to treat patients with acute-onset tinnitus [[i]].

‘Banish Tinnitus’ is a very well known tinnitus which often advertises in the paid adverts section of most Google searches into tinnitus or related searches.

The creator of the site, Paul Carrington offers a book which he claims reveals three natural steps that will cure your tinnitus, using no drugs or vitamins. There are probably no reliable cures for tinnitus, and so someone who suggests that there are may be making an unsubstantiated claim.

The language of the website is orientated towards “hard selling” making a number of claims that do not appear to be logical.

He alludes to the idea that doctors and the entire pharmaceutical industry are potentially involved in a conspiracy to profit from unfounded medication, while withholding critical information about natural remedies which work just as well. All this serves to do is fuel distrust of the medical community and gain the trust of tinnitus sufferers, some of whom may believe Paul Carrington has the answer. Below is an excerpt from the Banish Tinnitus website:

“Whether or not you like it the drug industry (and that includes doctors) are in it to make money. And while you're health is a large priority, the fat cats in the industry and even the doctors themselves hope and prey that you will never discover this information. What's more, they do everything in their power to make sure information like this never sees the light of day! They'd rather keep selling you and me half-ass solutions that deliver severely lacking results...if any...so that you have no choice but to keep coming back to them.”

Doctors are sometimes not the best people to provide advice on tinnitus as some are unaware of the large number of treatment options available, but to accuse of them of deliberately causing harm to patients by withholding information is simply untrue and dangerous.

There are a number of supposed review sites evaluating whether the ‘Banish Tinnitus’ formula is a scam or a reputable form of treatment. Although, they all give Banish Tinnitus a glowing review, it is possible that these review sites might have been written by the company behind Banish Tinnitus or their affiliates.

Respected Books on Tinnitus

There are a number of other books on the market claiming they can cure your tinnitus. Again to re-iterate, to date, there is no scientifically-based cure for tinnitus, but if you are looking to learn more about tinnitus, it is advisable that you buy a book written by a well-respected scientist in the field of tinnitus. Two recommend books are:

 Tinnitus Retraining Therapy: Implementing the Neurophysiological Model by Pawel J. Jastreboff and Jonathan W. P. Hazell.

And

Tinnitus: Questions and Answers by Jack A. Vernon and Barbara Tabachnick Sanders.

Clinical biofeedback is widely used to treat large variety of conditions ranging from migraines to paralysis, to disability associated with stroke. It involves using specific biofeedback instruments which detect physical and chemical signals in the body. By understanding the processes in your body in real time, it is proposed that you can self-regulate your emotional and physical problems which lead to these stress signals.

For example, the GSR2 is a biofeedback device which detects stress levels by monitoring electrical conductivity in the skin and emitting a pitched tone when it senses this physiological marker of stress. By being aware of small changes to which you are normally oblivious, you can self-promote relaxation and prevent the onset of stress. Also available is Camlink software which provides graphical readouts of the GSR2 on your computer.  The price of one of these devices is around $190 [[i]][[ii]].   

There is a wide range of biofeedback devices, each measuring a different bodily signal of stress. The two most popular devices detect temperature and skin conductance.

A recent study was conducted on 130 tinnitus sufferers who received 12 sessions of a biofeedback-based behavioral therapy. Results showed a clear reduction in tinnitus annoyance and tinnitus loudness and improvement in overall control of the condition. In addition, there was a decrease in depressive symptoms. The same findings were maintained 6 months after follow-up suggesting long-term improvement in tinnitus management. 

The same research group has repeated this study with similarly positive results. However, it must be added that in both trials biofeedback was used in combination with CBT, so it is impossible to determine which was the most effective in tinnitus reduction. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that the combined therapy works quite well [[iii]][[iv]].   

There is evidence that the incidence of hyperlipidemia is high among noise-induced hearing loss patients. Hyperlipidemia is the presence of high levels of lipids (fats) in the blood.

One study has shown that tinnitus patients who have been put on a low lipid diet for 24 months had significantly improved tinnitus when compared to patients with higher blood cholesterol [[i]].

Some tinnitus sufferers report that cutting down their salt intake can be very helpful in reducing tinnitus intensity. This may be of particular benefit to pulsatile tinnitus sufferers in whom tinnitus may have been caused as a result of circulation and blood pressure abnormalities.  Reducing salt intake is directly linked to a reduction in blood pressure so it is worth trying to reduce your daily salt intake for a week or two and seeing how it impacts upon your tinnitus severity.

A low salt diet seems particularly effective at reducing the effects of Meniere’s disease, where patients develop sudden onset vertigo, deafness, tinnitus, and a sensation of fullness in the ear. As Meniere’s disease is a result of increased fluid pressure in the ear, reducing salt intake can dramatically prevent fluid retention and pressure build-up. You can download a free guide to a reduced salt diet for Meniere’s sufferers at www.tinnitus.org.

On the Meniere’s disease support group website at www.dailystrength.com   85 members reported an average 79% success rate with a low salt diet. It must be added that a lot of people found it very difficult to maintain this strict diet. Surveys have found that 71% of medical doctors advise salt restriction to their Meniere’s patients [[i]]. Meniere’s disease patients are also told to avoid caffeine and to generally avoid large intakes of water to prevent fluid retention.

Red wine is reported to reduce the incidence of heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. There is also some evidence that red wine may be effective for reducing insomnia amongst tinnitus patients. Grape skins are full of melatonin, which is the key hormone created in the body at night time promoting sleep. White wines do not contain high levels of the hormone as their skins are removed for wine making. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chianti are the wines which contain highest levels of melatonin. 

A study in 1998 into the therapeutic effects of melatonin on tinnitus has shown that 46.7% of patients who had 3mg melatonin tablets nightly for 3 weeks reported an overall improvement in tinnitus compared to 20.0% improvement in the placebo group. Melatonin has few side effects and appears to be quite helpful in tinnitus management [[i]].

Vitamin B12 is a key component of brain and nerve cell metabolism. Deficiencies in the vitamin can cause irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system, with even small deficiencies causing poor memory and depression [[i]].

Some interesting findings were made in an experiment involving 57 military personnel who had been exposed to military noise and were suffering with chronic tinnitus and NIHL. They found that 47% of these subjects had vitamin B12 deficiency which was significantly higher than military personnel exposed to noise but who had normal hearing and no tinnitus. There was improvement in some of the patients following vitamin B12 supplementation, but the results were not conclusive [[ii]].

There is some evidence that supplements of zinc, magnesium and certain vitamins can reduce tinnitus or NIHL. However, a number of these studies have not been conducted against placebo controls and so we cannot confer that they are therapeutically beneficial. 

Chronic noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a major cause of age-related hearing loss and sudden-onset loud noise exposure, which both can directly cause tinnitus. There have been many studies over the last few decades that show there are compounds which can prevent or at least reduce the severity of NIHL.

Magnesium is involved in many metabolic processes in the body and magnesium therapy is well-documented to be effective for other pathologies.  There are reports that show magnesium is able to alleviate the damage caused by NIHL through limiting damage to the cochlear hair cells.

In a recent experiment on guinea pigs that were exposed to loud 170dB  sounds, it was found that one month treatment with magnesium significantly attenuates NIHL [[i]].

Similar protective properties of magnesium have been found in humans and it appears that magnesium supplements may well be a safe form of therapy to alleviate sensory cell death in the cochlear. However, there seem to be no direct reports that show whether this translates into tinnitus reduction, and the beneficial neuroprotective effects have only been studied in acoustic trauma sufferers with acute onset tinnitus.