A sound of hope for tinnitus 犠牲者s

A new 治療 for tinnitus using vibrations created by 合成d music, 改善するd symptoms in almost all 患者s during its first 裁判，公判.

The sonic brain reprogramming 治療, based on sound vibrations that pass through a bone behind the ear, helped eight out of ten of the 患者s who had twice-週刊誌 開会／開廷／会期s of the therapy.

Its inventors, who are planning larger 裁判，公判s, say the 科学（工学）技術 could be a real 打開 for the one in ten people who 苦しむ with the debilitating 条件 at some time.

Tinnitus is the sensation of a sound in the ear, usually a hissing, whooshing or （犯罪の）一味ing noise.

Once, it was thought tinnitus was 原因（となる）d by a physical problem, but one new theory is that in some people it's the result of the brain turning up its sensitivity, while in others it's a consequence of a change or loss in 審理，公聴会.

Although it can be 誘発する／引き起こすd by underlying problems, 含むing earwax, respiratory and ear 感染s, （危険などに）さらす to loud noise, and high 血 圧力, the 原因（となる） is often unknown.

In some 事例／患者s it is linked to ageing and 悪化するing 審理，公聴会, but it can occur where there is no 審理，公聴会 loss.

'A third of people I see have some 審理，公聴会 loss and tinnitus is 堅固に associated with that. In another third of 事例／患者s, the tinnitus appears to have started at a time of 広大な／多数の／重要な 強調する／ストレス, bereavement, redundancy, mugging, or some other 肉親，親類d of a big life event.

'In another third we don't know,' says David Baguley, 長，率いる of audiology at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.

One theory to explain some 事例／患者s of tinnitus is that we all have these sounds in our ears, but that we are 条件d to them, in much the same way that people who live next to a road become oblivious to traffic noise. The problem in some 事例／患者s of tinnitus can be not so much the noise itself, as our 団体／死体's reaction to it.

'Biochemical 研究 sugg ests the inner ear changes during 強調する／ストレス so it is not possible to look at 審理，公聴会 in 孤立／分離. If you are lying in bed at night and you hear a creak on the stairs, you have an 即座の 返答 in your muscles, breathing, alertness and so on.

'All that begins 12-thousandth of a second after the start of the creak,' says Mr Baguley. The first sound of tinnitus can have the same 肉親，親類d of 影響. The more the 患者 worries about and concentrates on the sound, the greater and more 執拗な it becomes.

The goal of therapy is to get the brain to ignore it. Masking with noise has been used, but in most 事例／患者s the 救済 is shortterm, usually only while the masking noise is 現在の. Long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 habituation or retraining therapy also helps

many people, but its 影響s can take time to kick-in, いつかs a year or two.

The idea behind the new therapy, which is 推定する／予想するd to go on 裁判，公判 in the UK at the end of the year, is that when people lose the ability to hear very high frequencies, the 神経 独房s in the brain that 過程d those sounds start to 答える／応じる to a lower frequency instead.

At the same time, they also begin to 反応する when there is no sound, 原因（となる）ing the phantom （犯罪の）一味ing of tinnitus. 研究員s say this loss of high-frequency sound is one of the 原因（となる）s of tinnitus in some people.

The Ultraquiet therapy developed by 研究員s in New York and Virginia University 作品 by reprogramming the 神経 独房s to get them working 適切に by exposing them to high-frequency vibrations.

In the therapy, the 過程d sound is 行為／行うd 負かす／撃墜する the bone rather than through the ear. In that way, the highfrequency sound by-passes the middle ear and 回復するs highfrequency signals to the cochlea which are then 過程d by the brain.

The Ultraquiet 器具／備品 含むs a music player and amplifier and a headpiece. The headpiece has an アルミ ceramic transducer, a tiny レコード that is held against the mastoid bone behind the 患者 's ear.

The レコード turns the music sound from the amplifier into vibrations which are sent through the 肌 and into the bone of the skull. The vibrations 刺激する the 神経 独房s, which 答える／応じる as if they were 審理，公聴会 high-pitched sounds coming from the ear itself.

Although the vibrations are 配達するd only to one 味方する of the 長，率いる, the brain 'hears' them as if they were coming from both 味方するs.

During the 予選 裁判，公判, 患者s 老年の 35 to 72 with 厳しい 無能にするing tinnitus had two half-hour 開会／開廷／会期s for four weeks. All the 患者s, men and women, had 穏やかな to 穏健な highfrequency 審理，公聴会 loss.

患者s who 完全にするd the 熟考する／考慮する said they had 改良s in their symptoms during the course of 治療. The duration of the 改良- - known as residual inhibition - 変化させるd up to several weeks. That, say the 研究員s, is much longer than the 救済 供給するd by 従来の forms of masking which last for only a few second or minutes.

Symptoms in the 患者s returned after two weeks, but repeated 治療s can keep the 神経 独房s in the brain behaving 適切に.

Pennie Kidd, 59, from Kent, who developed tinnitus about five years ago, had tried a number of different 治療s.

'I don't know what the 誘発する／引き起こす was. I had no loss of 審理，公聴会 that could have 原因（となる）d it, it was suddenly just there one day and has stayed,' she says.

'I did try a number of things. Counselling was helpful, and then I had a noise 発生させる人（物）, a 装置 a little bit like a 審理，公聴会 援助（する） that makes a sound that you concentrate on rather than thinking about the tinnitus. That gave me some sense of 支配（する）／統制する.

'I have tinnitus in my 長，率いる. I wouldn't 述べる it as 存在 in one ear or the other. 地雷 is a high-pitched whistling noise. It is continuous, but it also seems to fluctuate, getting worse when you are tired and 少なくなるing when you are distracted.

'The problem with getting 強調する／ストレスd about your tinnitus is that you dwell on it and it gets magnified.

'Your brain will learn to 融通する the tinnitus. The 初期の reaction can be very 深遠な and 苦しめるing, so the news of these new 裁判，公判s is very welcome, indeed.'

British Tinnitus 協会, tel. 0800 0180527.