Lenire: The New Tinnitus Treatment

Hey guys. Cliff Olson, Doctor of Audiology and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona, and in this video I'm discussing Bimodal Neuromodulation, which may be the most effective form of tinnitus treatment that we see in our lifetime. Coming up. While we may not all be able to agree on how to pronounce the word tinnitus, one thing that we can all agree on is that tinnitus is a huge problem, not just in the United States, but across the entire world. In a recent systematic review and meta-analysis looking at the global prevalence and incidence of tinnitus, researchers identified that tinnitus affects nearly three quarters of a billion people worldwide, and it is perceived as a major problem for 120 million of those people. Tinnitus is one of the most prevalent health conditions, and since it affects so many people, researchers and scientists are constantly looking for ways to reduce the perception and annoyance level of this phantom sound. Tinnitus can be perceived as pretty much anything from a ringing to a buzzing to a static noise, to a whooshing or even a pulsating sound. Most of the time tinnitus is subjective, which means the person with the tinnitus is the only person who can hear it, and other times tinnitus is objective, which means not only can the person who has tinnitus hear it, but someone else can actually hear it emanating from their ear canal. Personally, I have subjective tinnitus inside of my right ear that is a constant high pitched ringing sound right around 14,000 hertz. In fact, most people who have tinnitus is subjective as well, but what causes tinnitus? Well, tinnitus is typically caused by the lack of auditory information making it from your ears up to your brain due to a hearing loss, but this is not the only cause. There are people who experience tinnitus but have no hearing loss at all. One thing that researchers know for sure though is that tinnitus is caused by the brain, not by the ears, and while treating tinnitus through the ears using hearing aids or sound therapy can be effective for some people, it's not effective for everybody. However, recent clinical studies have identified that when you combine auditory stimulation with somatosensory stimulation, which is known as physical touch, that it is much more effective than just auditory stimulation alone. This is why using a treatment known as bimodal neuromodulation is so intriguing when it comes to treating tinnitus. But before I get into exactly what bimodal neuromodulation is, if you could do me a huge favor and click the like button, it really helps out my channel because it gets these videos in front of a bigger audience. And while you're at it, if you have not yet hit that subscribe button with the notification bell, go ahead and do that as well, because that ensures that you never miss one of my newly released videos and I release a ton of new videos every single week. That being said, I really appreciate it and huge shout out to Neuromod Devices for sponsoring today's video, but more on them in a little bit. Now, I realize that bimodal neuromodulation is a mouthful to say, but let's go ahead and break it down, starting with the word neuromodulation. This is a combination of the words neuro, which means nerve or nerves and modulation, which means to modify or alter. Essentially, neuromodulation means to alter neural activity. The word bimodal is a combination of bi, which means two and modal, which means form, or in this case, two forms. When we combine the words bimodal and neuromodulation, it means that we are using two forms of stimuli in order to modify or alter the brain's neural activity that is causing the tinnitus. What this bimodal neuromodulation treatment is able to take advantage of is something called neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganize neural connections in response to a stimulus. A good basic example of neuroplasticity at work and using bimodal neuromodulation to achieve it. I'm going to use the example of playing the piano. When learning to play the piano, you need to use your fingers to manipulate the keys, and then you have to use your ears to hear the sound that each key makes when you press it. When someone starts playing the piano for the first time, typically they're not that good, but as time goes on and they get more practice, they get more and more auditory and physical feedback, and typically they get better. After a lot of practice, the brain has reorganized in a way to where you can just go and play the piano without really having to think about it. The reason why researchers believe that bimodal neuromodulation will be more effective at treating your tinnitus is that your brain will undergo more beneficial neuroplasticity quicker and reorganize your brain in a way that your tinnitus becomes less bothersome. Why? Because just like playing the piano, receiving a second physical stimulus can reinforce the initial auditory stimulus. But not all forms of bimodal neuromodulation are created equal. That's why Neuromod Devices, today's video sponsor, developed their Lenire Tinnitus Treatment Device that combines auditory stimulation with tongue stimulation in order to have the largest effect possible on your tinnitus. Lenire is the first FDA approved device of its kind for the treatment of tinnitus and combines the delivery of unique sound patterns using a pair of Bluetooth headphones and mild electrical impulses through the tongue using their proprietary tongue tip stimulator. This form of noninvasive bimodal neuromodulation targets the auditory attention and emotional centers of the brain. Over time, the coordinated activation of these different pathways promotes positive neuroplasticity in the brain that has been proven in clinical trials to alleviate the symptoms of tinnitus. Neuromod has carried out three large scale clinical trials to date with Lenire. What they found is that 83% of more than 500 patients who underwent their clinical trial would recommend Lenire as a treatment to other tinnitus patients. In their third and most recent large scale clinical trial, 80% of participants had a significant reduction in tinnitus severity, and Lenire proved to be more effective than sound only therapy for people with moderate or worse tinnitus. These clinical trial findings were consistent with evidence from more than 200 real world patients. These clinical trial results were some of the most impressive results that I have ever seen when it comes to tinnitus treatment success, and this is likely the reason why Neuromod received their FDA De Novo approval for their Lenire device. That requires a significant amount of evidence to achieve. But as with any other successful tinnitus treatment, Lenire requires the skills and expertise of a trained tinnitus professional, which is why all Lenire providers must already be tinnitus experts and undergo additional training to offer Lenire in their clinics. Now, if you have tinnitus and you're interested in Lenire, go to Lenire.com to find a Lenire partner clinic near you and schedule an appointment to get evaluated. While bimodal neuromodulation is probably not going to make you a better piano player, it could be the treatment option that is most effective at reducing the perception and annoyance of your tinnitus. Now, you need to understand this Bimodal Neuromodulation in and of itself is not a miracle cure for tinnitus. It is a tool that a tinnitus practitioner can use in addition to other forms of therapy like TRT, CBT, hearing aids, and other masking devices to treat your tinnitus more effectively. One thing that I know for sure after having worked with hundreds of different individuals who have tinnitus is that there is no single treatment option that works for everybody. This is why it is so critical that if you have bothersome tinnitus, that you find a tinnitus expert who has a variety of different treatment options for you, rather than just going to a hearing aid clinic that will only provide you with hearing aids as a treatment option. As time goes on, we're gonna see more and more research come out about the benefits of using bimodal neuromodulation to reduce the perception and annoyance of tinnitus. But with all the positive results that we have already seen in the research, as tinnitus practitioners get better and better at utilizing bimodal neuromodulation, we are likely to see even better results as time goes on, and hopefully this provides a lot of individuals who are suffering with bothersome tinnitus some much needed relief.