Acupuncture for tinnitus has been used to treat tinnitus for some time now. Acupuncture involves the insertion of fine needles into specific ‘energy points’ on the body for therapeutic purposes. The technique has been practised for over two thousand years and is billed by practitioners as a method of improving the flow of energy around the body and restoring the ying and yang balance and promoting general well being in the body. There have been a number of studies investigating the link between acupuncture and tinnitus, noted below.

A study of 98 patients receiving a 3 weekly course of acupuncture, 11 were reportedly ‘cured’ and 64 had marked improvement.  These appear like good results but there was no comparison with a no treatment or placebo group so these results are meaningless .

Researchers at the speech therapy department at the University of Sao Paulo have recently reported that tinnitus patients who receive acupuncture at the correct pressure points when compared to patients receiving random needle insertion, had significantly improved cochlear hair cell function. This suggests that acupuncture has a physical effect, but does not shed light on whether tinnitus was reduced as a result .

Another study demonstrated that sham acupuncture has not been effective at tinnitus reduction when compared to acupuncture at the recognized pressure points .

Although there are some trials that indicate positive association between acupuncture and tinnitus, there remains no conclusive evidence supporting the use of acupuncture for tinnitus and there is a need for large clinical trials.

Xanax which is the tradename for alprazolam is an anti-anxiety drug used to treat anxiety disorders and panic attacks. There is some evidence that it can be effective at also reducing tinnitus anxiety and stress leading to alleviated tinnitus ringing. Xanax places the body into a less stressed state which can reduce the negative emotional response one connects to their tinnitus. As the suffer places less emphasis on the effects of their tinnitus, they become less aware and the brain processes the single just like any other background sound.  The user becomes habituated to their tinnitus.

A study in 1993 discovered that out of 17 tinnitus patients receiving Xanax for 12 weeks, 13 reported a reduction in tinnitus severity while only one patient in the placebo group of 20 people reported any reduction in noise.

Dr Jack Vernon, author of Tinnitus: Questions and Answers and one of the world’s foremost experts on tinnitus is a supporter of the use of Xanax as an effective treatment for tinnitus, especially when the tinnitus noise cannot be masked.

However, there are others that argue there is insufficient evidence that Xanax is an effective therapy for tinnitus. It cannot be directly prescribed by your doctor for tinnitus but can be administered for the anxiety caused by it. There are also a number of side effects including drowsiness, fatigue and the potential of physical dependency.

If medication is stopped without gradual reduction, there can be withdrawal symptoms ranging from rebound-anxiety to seizures. The severity of these withdrawal symptoms will generally intensify with increasing dosage and length of usage, but even short term users should be tapered off the medication gradually.

Tinnitus laser therapies involve low level laser therapy (LLLT) devices which emit certain wavelengths of light that can reportedly improve cochlear cellular function and induce regeneration.

There are a number of soft laser devices currently available for treating tinnitus, with Tinnitool being best recognised. In their brochure, they boast that their device ‘leads to rapid regeneration of the hearing cells, improved circulation to the cochlear, stimulation of the immune system, acceleration of cell division and activation of specific defensive cells.

The Tinnitool device is billed as 100% safe without any side effects or pain, and no expertise required to operate it. The device is fastened on to the head and a fibreglass cable transmits the laser beam into the ear.

The Tinnitool brochure quotes two studies which report that 60% of patients with tinnitus patients showed moderate to marked improvement in tinnitus after using the device.

However, a recent study conducted by the ENT department of San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy provided strong evidence that tinnitus laser therapy demonstrates no therapeutic benefit for tinnitus.

Tinnitool’s Earlaser is available from the Swiss manufacturer for EUR 330.00 ($465), or on a rental scheme which will costs EUR 229.00.  

If you are a regular user of personal music playback devices and you suffer with tinnitus, noise cancelling headphones may be a good alternative to standard headphones.  Noise cancelling headphones use special electronic phasing techniques which cancel out ambient environmental noise.

Frequent exposure to loud noises leads to Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL), which is one of the leading causes of tinnitus. There is increasing concern that the prevalence of tinnitus is increasing with the increasing use of MP3 players with long battery lives which allow hours of listening time.

Noise cancelling headphones allow the user to listen to music at a lower volume as they don’t have to compete with environmental noises such as traffic and general hubbub. A reduction in listening volume can prevent the occurrence of tinnitus and at the least reducing worsening the condition if you are already a sufferer.