Somatosensory Based Treatments for Tinnitus

Until recently our attempts over the years at treatment of patients with such types of tinnitus has met with little or no success. These treatments have included cervical physical therapy and dental treatments for bruxism. A few with such tinnitus responded have had some benefit from acupuncture applied to their periauricular region. A small formal trial with a few patients did not provide any relief. However a literature review (Levine et al., 2007) found a consistent line of evidence for a tinnitus subgroup responsive to somatosensory based treatment modalities, including electrical stimulation in the periauricular region, and acupuncture. Furthermore an electrical stimulation device of the auricle P-Stim was found to be more effective than standard acupuncture for a variety of conditions, including chronic cervical and low back pain. For this convergence of reasons we have initiated an open trial with P-Stim over the past 11 months. In a sense we have used it in an "off-label" capacity; just as many medications have been found to be useful for conditions for which the medications were not developed (see Levine 2006). The P-Stim is a battery-powered, transcutaneous electrical stimulator that delivers 1 per second bipolar 1 millisecond pulses to three points on the auricle. The device connects via three fine insulated stainless steel wires to three needles (each 0.4 mm diameter, 2 mm long) that have been applied to three different points on the auricle. The device is powered by three zinc air batteries, each with a voltage of 1.4 V. The device is on for 180 minutes, then off for 180 minutes, for a maximum period of up to 96 hours. The battery and electronics are contained in a 6 mm by 2.5 mm pack that has one adhesive surface which is applied to the skin behind the ear. The adhesive is conductive and acts as the return for the device. The battery pack is secured with tape. We have met with some success using P-Stim for what appear to be two tinnitus subgroups: somatic pulsatile tinnitus syndrome (Levine et al., 2008) and patients with non-pulsatile unilateral fluctuating tinnitus associated with deep ear pain.