If you have a strange ringing in your ears all the time, you might suffer from a condition called tinnitus. It is an odd condition that has been difficult to treat but researchers are now saying that sending simple electromagnetic pulses into the brain might be all that is required. This is a process called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
“I don’t see TMS replacing all that, but I see it as another option for helping some patients,” advises Robert Folmer of the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Oregon Health and Science University, according to a report by Diabetes Insider.
Folmer, who is also a Research investigator with the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research at the VA Portland Health Care System, goes on to say, “Tinnitus is more likely to occur in people with hearing loss or people who had a lot of noise exposure. So it’s usually associated with damage to the auditory system”, Diabetes Insider reported on Sunday.
Folmer also notes, “It’s the magnetic field that penetrates the scalp and skull and interacts with brain tissue.” He also makes sure to add that this therapy has already been approved for the treatment of depression in the United States. “When we deliver one pulse per second of TMS, that low rate of TMS stimulation can suppress neural activity in that region.”
In addition, Folmer says, “Some people responded quite well. We were surprised they maintained their improvement throughout the six months of follow-up. I thought if people showed an improvement it would be short-lived.”
In the study, approximately 56 percent of the participants who received TMS improve after 10 session while only 22 had improved after the same number of sessions with a control treatment.
Looking further into this study it should be noted that another study published last year actually found that women who consume more caffeine are less likely to have tinnitus.