[Alfie Schoeman]

Alfie Schoeman  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Dear Chris
 
Both my husband and I suffer from tinnitus. Is there a cure or anything out there that can at least alleviate the problem?

A friend of mine said that putting a few drops of pure alchohol in the ears helps
 
Many thanks
Alfreda

What do you think?

[DrN]

Hi, this question has been asked a few times, try What causes Tinnitus? first, then try some of the links that are in there. I've not heard of the alcohol in the ear before, but some people have a lot of success with relatively simple measures, such as avoiding ibuprofen, or taking certain vitamins or supplements.
Hope you find something that works for you.

[techmind]

I don't think there's much medical which can be done about tinnitus (although as others suggest there may be certain drugs which aggravate it and are best avoided).

However, there are a number of 'hearing aid'-like devices which play special sounds in your ear which can help to mask the tinnitus and which many people find helpful. In the UK, such devices can be obtained on the NHS if your symptoms are severe enough.


Tinnitus is frequently correlated with some type of hearing-loss, so you probably should be having periodic hearing checkups at least every few years. It may be that your hearing is worsening which is causing the difficulty in following conversation - and which is also increasing your perception of the tinnitus (as the real sounds have become 'softer', the tinnitus sounds become relatively louder). Following the same reasoning, bizarre as it may seem, if your hearing is worsening you might find even a regular hearing aid which amplifies real sounds may help with the tinnitus.

[DrN]

Yes, as they all say, there are lots of potential causes of tinnitus, and probably loads of 'remedies' but having seen the dramatic effect that simply avoiding ibuprofen had on my husband I would urge you to try it for a few months (its not instant). He also took vitamin B and cod liver oil, and he's not complained of tinnitus for a couple of years now. It's simple, and very cheap, and doesn't involve seeing a doctor or doing anything special!

The other thing that helps him take his mind off it is something called a soundasleep pillow. I may have mentioned it in one of the posts that were linked from my previous post. It's basically a pillow with a speaker in it connected to a lead that you plug into an ipod or MP3 player, and you can go to sleep listening to music or podcasts or whatever, while not disturbing your partner!

[emilykiles]

I like your suggestion of the soundasleep pillow. You can either play soothing music to aid relaxation and sleep, or play white noise to mask out the effects of tinnitus.