Tinnitus
Discover truly effective therapy options for treating tinnitus that address the root causes of the condition.
The Istituto di Neuroscienze offers non-invasive treatments that can improve symptoms in even the most severe and debilitating cases.
Characteristics of Tinnitus
A common disorder that can interfere with daily life
Tinnitus is a disorder that manifests as the perception of a noise in the ears or head in the absence of an external acoustic stimulus. Therefore, the disorder is also often known as "ringing in the ears." The noise can be of different types:
A buzzing sound;
A whistling sound;
A hissing sound;
A knocking sound.
Tinnitus is a very common disorder, affecting about 15 percent of the adult population. It can also be very debilitating, as it can interfere with normal daily activities making it difficult to concentrate, talk and sleep.
In fact, continuous ringing or noise in the ears can make it extremely difficult to adequately hear what surrounds the person, making it incredibly challenging to sustain a conversation with another person or stay focused on a specific activity. In addition, the continuous perception of a sound or noise can keep one awake for hours and make it nearly impossible to succeed in falling asleep.
The Causes of Tinnitus
What are the causes of tinnitus?There can be several different causes of tinnitus, but the most common are:
Exposure to loud noises: acoustic trauma is the most common cause of tinnitus. Prolonged exposure to loud noises, such as loud music, explosions or working in particularly noisy environments, can slowly decrease the ability of the auditory nerve to capture sound and accurately transmit it to the brain, thus causing tinnitus.
Older age: Tinnitus can also result from progressive hearing loss due to the natural progression of age.
Ear infections: Septicemia secondary to taking certain medications can also be at the root of tinnitus.
Inner ear problems: Tinnitus can also be caused by inner ear problems, such as Ménière's syndrome, otosclerosis, and drug-induced ototoxicity.
Neurological problems: in some cases, tinnitus may be caused by neurological problems, such as stroke, head injury, or multiple sclerosis.
Unknown causes: about 25 percent of tinnitus cases have no known cause.
The Treatment of Tinnitus
Tinnitus can be a very debilitating disorder and can negatively interfere with the normal daily activities of the person suffering from it. To date, there is no single cure for tinnitus as its causes may differ from person to person. Therefore, the treatment approach must be tailored to each patient, making use of the most effective therapeutic tools for symptom reduction.
Acoustic masking devices
A popular option for treating tinnitus is the use of a device that can produce a noise capable of hiding or disguising the tinnitus.
Although they can be of considerable help in reducing the discomfort caused by the disorder, these are devices that must be worn permanently and whose sound produced to hide the tinnitus can sometimes become even more annoying than the tinnitus itself.
Moreover, the most significant issue related to these devices concerns the fact that they do not act on the cause of the disorder, thus not solving the problem at its roots. Therefore, if the person removes the hearing aid device, tinnitus symptoms will recur.
Lifestyle changes
There are also some "home remedies" that can be helpful in reducing the discomfort related to tinnitus if it occurs in mild or moderate forms. Depending on the underlying causes of symptoms, certain lifestyle changes can help improve symptoms. These include:
Reducing blood pressure;
Getting regular exercise;
Reduce the amount of Aspirin taken regularly;
Reducing exposure to loud noises.
However, even in these cases these are mostly compensatory interventions that do not radically affect the cause of the disorder.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) represents a real revolution in the treatment of tinnitus because it is the first lasting neurological therapy capable of acting directly on the mechanisms responsible for tinnitus.
TMS works by modulating the activity of specific brain areas associated with tinnitus through a magnetic stimulus. This stimulation is able to make long-term changes in the patterns of neuronal activation within these areas, making a lasting change possible over time. With this kind of therapy, it is possible to reduce the activity of the brain areas responsible for the sound/noise caused by tinnitus, thereby decreasing their continuous activation that underlies the annoying noise.
TMS is a non-surgical, non-pharmacological and non-invasive treatment that has been shown to be effective for tinnitus and holds exceptional promise for even the most severe and debilitating cases of this disorder. Indeed, several recent studies have shown that TMS may be able to help reduce the intensity of perceived noise and improve patients' quality of life. According to the most recent scientific studies carried out in this regard, 50 percent of patients with tinnitus report significant benefits on their symptoms as a result of therapy performed with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.
Insight resources
Neuromodulation Therapies
Neuromodulation Therapies represent an advantageous alternative to traditional medical treatments because they can be combined with each other and associated with additional medical and psychological therapies in order to achieve a highly personalized treatment.
Moreover, they are free of side effects. Read more in this page!
Neuromodulation Therapies represent an advantageous alternative to traditional medical treatments because they can be combined with each other and associated with additional medical and psychological therapies in order to achieve a highly personalized treatment.
Moreover, they are free of side effects. Read more in this page!
Why doesn't my treatment work?
Very often we interface with people who come to our Center after seeking a variety of treatments that have had no beneficial effect. There are a variety of reasons why this happens, at the root of which lies the uniqueness of each individual and their suffering.
Dr. Stefano Pallanti adopts a method of precision diagnosis that allows to address the specific therapeutic needs of each person through completely personalized treatment paths.
Very often we interface with people who come to our Center after seeking a variety of treatments that have had no beneficial effect. There are a variety of reasons why this happens, at the root of which lies the uniqueness of each individual and their suffering.
Dr. Stefano Pallanti adopts a method of precision diagnosis that allows to address the specific therapeutic needs of each person through completely personalized treatment paths.
