Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Brain Morphology of Cannabis Users With or Without Psychosis: A Pilot MRI Study
Published on: August 18, 2020
Transdermal lidocaine as treatment for chronic subjective tinnitus: A pilot study
Daniel C O'Brien1, Aaron D Robinson2, Nancy Wang3
1Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, University of West Virginia, 4520 Health Science South, PO BOX 9200, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA.
Objective:
To assess the efficacy of transdermal lidocaine as a treatment for chronic subjective tinnitus as measured by the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI).
Study Design:
Pilot, prospective efficacy trial.
Setting:
Tertiary care hospital.
Patients:
Men and women, over the age of 18 with chronic subjective tinnitus for >6 months.
Intervention:
Daily application of commercially available transdermal lidocaine patch.
Outcome Measure:
Change in the TFI.
Results:
The average pre-treatment TFI score was 56.2. After 1 month the average TFI decreased to 41 (p < 0.05). The scores dropped to 34 and 35 after 2 and 3 months of treatment respectively. Despite improvement in symptoms of tinnitus, most patients did not continue the study after the first month, dropping out due to the size, discomfort, and appearance of the lidocaine patch, failure to follow-up and lack of perceived benefit from treatment.
Conclusions:
In this preliminary study, 5% transdermal lidocaine appears to be a potential treatment for chronic subjective tinnitus. The majority of subjects who completed 1 month of treatment had clinically significantly improved tinnitus. These findings are confounded however by the small sample size and significant drop out rate.
Related Concept Videos
Bioavailability Study Design: Healthy Subjects Versus Patients
Pilot and Numeric Relaying
Cable Subjected to Its Own Weight
A generalized loading function is employed to analyze a cable subjected to its own weight. This function considers the force acting along the cable's arc length rather than its projected length, providing a more accurate...
Assessment of the Gastrointestinal System I: Subjective Data
Health History
The initial step in assessing the GI system is obtaining a comprehensive health history. This includes inquiring about the patient's history or presence of problems...
Cable Subjected to Concentrated Loads
Cable Subjected to a Distributed Load

