The tinnitus total remission: targeting treatment to the etiological hypothesis

Abstract

Even with the dramatic increase in the scientific publications addressing tinnitus as the main subject, there is still some disbelief about the possibility of some treatments resulting in total and long lasting remission of the symptom. Nevertheless, sometimes the suppression of tinnitus may be observed in clinical practice after certain treatments. The objective of this study was to report a didactic case where the early adoption of therapeutic approaches targeting the initial aetiological hypotheses (metabolic and somatosensory tinnitus) ended up in a long term, total remission of tinnitus for 4.5 years until now. This illustrative case report may be a starting point for future research, such as finding the common characteristics of other individuals who have reached total remission. We recommend that a detail oriented medical and audiological evaluation of patients with tinnitus be performed to optimize treatment targeted to certain subtypes of tinnitus patients.