Usability of Bimodal Neuromodulation to Treat Tinnitus – The Hearing Review
By Tish Ramirez, AuD; Caroline Hamiton, BSc (Audiology), MSc (Neuroscience); Sook Ling Leong, PhD
It is reported that 10-15% of the global adult population suffers from tinnitus 1-4, the chronic phantom auditory percept that has been attributed to abnormal firing patterns in the brain.4 According to the American Tinnitus Association (ATA), 45 million Americans reported experiencing tinnitus in the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey……..
By Tish Ramirez, AuD; Caroline Hamiton, BSc (Audiology), MSc (Neuroscience); Sook Ling Leong, PhD
It is reported that 10-15% of the global adult population suffers from tinnitus 1-4, the chronic phantom auditory percept that has been attributed to abnormal firing patterns in the brain.4 According to the American Tinnitus Association (ATA), 45 million Americans reported experiencing tinnitus in the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. Of these, nearly 20 million people are dealing with burdensome tinnitus on a regular basis, with approximately 2 million people struggling with severe, sometimes debilitating tinnitus.5 Among tinnitus sufferers, 90% also experience some degree of hearing loss.6 Additionally, tinnitus is the number one cause of disability among US veterans, according to the US Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), with some two million veterans receiving compensation for their tinnitus in fiscal year 2020.7
As hearing care professionals know, tinnitus is associated with a range of comorbidities, including psychological disorders that have a significant and multifaceted negative impact on health.8 Many tinnitus patients report feeling distressed by their symptoms and a resulting diminishment in their overall quality of life and that of their families.8 While there are several treatment approaches available, ranging from hearing aids with masking programs to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), tinnitus continues to be a major health issue in our society with limited treatment options that are consistently effective or accessible across sufferers.9-10
To address the unmet clinical need for a safe, effective, and scalable tinnitus treatment, Neuromod Devices Limited (Dublin, Ireland) developed a non-invasive bimodal (sound and tongue) stimulation portable device, Lenire® , that has been CE marked in Europe for use by tinnitus sufferers 18 years of age and older in order to alleviate the symptoms of chronic, subjective tinnitus. The Lenire treatment device (Figure 1) consists of a controller that connects to wireless consumer headphones for sound delivery to the ears and connects to a mouth component, known as a Tonguetip® that provides gentle electrical stimulation to the tongue surface. Users are recommended to use the device for 60 minutes daily (two 30-minute sessions consecutively or at different times of the day). Lenire is already commercialized across Europe and available by audiologists or hearing technicians in numerous hearing centers for treating tinnitus.
Figure 1. Neuromod Lenire treatment device. (a) Illustration of the Neuromod Lenire device during use. (b) Individual components of the Lenire device: handheld Controller; a Tonguetip Intra-Oral Device (IOD), which delivers gentle electrical stimulation to the tongue; and wireless consumer headphones that deliver audio stimulation.
Over the past five years, Neuromod Devices has completed two large-scale clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of its propriety technology in …….
