[Zinc therapy of tinnitus. A placebo-controlled study]

Forty-eight patients with tinnitus of various etiologies underwent a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind trial to assess whether treatment with zinc had any favourable effect on tinnitus. The trial tablets contained either 100 mg zinc sulphate as a depot tablet = 22 mg Zn++ (Zinclet) or placebo. The patients took tablets thrice daily for eight weeks. They indicated the severity of the tinnitus once weekly on a table graduated from 0 to 10. Serum zinc and serum albumin were measured before and after treatment. Out of the 48 patients with tinnitus, only one had hypozincaemia. During treatment, the serum zinc rose significantly in the group treated with zinc. No favourable effect of zinc treatment on tinnitus could be demonstrated. The fact that the serum zinc levels of the patients were within the normal range was probably an important reason for this.