Researchers at the University of Texas have been experimenting with what is called vagus nerve stimulation or simply VNS as a possible treatment for tinnitus. This type of nerve stimulation could theoretically be responsible for helping thousands if not millions of people with tinnitus. The nervous system certainly plays an important role in the development of tinnitus and there is a good chance that it could be as beneficial for humans as it has been for rats already.
There is no doubt that VNS holds a lot of promise for those who have tinnitus and so far the results that have been achieved with lab rats are very promising. Those who struggle with moderate to severe tinnitus each day will most likely be able to look forward to having this treatment as an option sometime in the future, though it has not yet been approved for the specific treatment of tinnitus.
For years now researchers have been studying how tinnitus is affected by the nervous system, more specifically the vagus nerve. With the proper amount of stimulation, it could be possible to reverse the entire pathology of tinnitus in an actual person. Even though this research is still incomplete, it may just hold the key to providing millions of people around the world with the kind of relief they have been long searching for.
Although there are currently certain sound therapy treatments as well as various medications for the treatment of tinnitus, none of them are able to definitively get rid of the root cause which often times lies with the nervous system. Vagus nerve stimulation, while it is certainly not a new idea or concept, could be just what you need to finally turn down the volume on your tinnitus or even get rid of it altogether depending on how effective it is.
