External electrical tinnitus suppression: a review

Our experience with transcutaneous electrical stimulation for tinnitus suppression has been with the Theraband Headset from Audimax Inc. The purpose of this article is to review the highlights of the patients who exhibited tinnitus suppression and/or tinnitus control, and to provide an update of our results and techniques using external electrical stimulation with prolonged stimulation (stage IV). Patient selection is considered critical to the success of external electrical stimulation for tinnitus suppression. The key elements include the clinical finding of a peripheral site of lesion of the tinnitus; positive maskability of the symptom of tinnitus; absence of active ear disease; absence of a vestibular asymmetry; and absence or minimal evidence of dysfunction of the central auditory system. The protocol described for patient selection allows for tinnitus identification, the differentiation of clinical tinnitus types, and the clinical application of the concept of the dynamic range of electrical tinnitus suppression. External electrical tinnitus suppression is believed effective in a limited number of patients clinically identified as having a tinnitus site of lesion primarily peripheral in location and cochlear in type. The present device is not commercially available at this time. Both specific and general suggestions are proposed for the standardization of methods of reporting results of electrical tinnitus suppression and tinnitus control.