Temporary tinnitus suppression in man through electrical stimulation of the cochlea

While investigating the possibilities of electrically induced hearing in cases of profound deafness, we observed that very often an appropriate stimulation of the cochlea could result in tinnitus cancellation. We present here a progress report on that phenomenon, including 15 subjects. Such a cancellation was restricted to tinnitus subjectively localized in the ear under test, we observed no effect on noises localized in the other ear, or centrally. This suppression occurred so long as the cochlea was stimulated and stopped when the stimulation ceased. This phenomenon was very reproducible and did not seem to affect simultaneous normal acoustic hearing. It is hypothesized that this phenomenon acts through an inhibition of abnormal activity of sensorineural elements of the electrically stimulated cochlea.