Engineers in Ireland have produced a device that has the potential to reduce the symptoms of tinnitus.

According to an article on The Engineer, this innovation was developed by Neuromod and consists of a pair of wireless Bluetooth headphones and a separate device that is placed on the tongue, which has been trademarked as Tonguetip. The headphones emit audio tones combined with wideband noise to each ear, whilst the Tonguetip delivers pulses of electrical stimulation to the nerves on the tip of the tongue.

To gauge the ability of the device, a trial was performed on 326 participants across two locations – St. James Hospital in Dublin and the University of Regensburg in Germany. Participants were told to use the device for one hour a day for 12 weeks. Once treatment had concluded, the participants were then assessed at three follow-up visits in the space of a year. 

In conclusion, it was documented that 77.8 percent of the participants said that they would recommend the device for sufferers of tinnitus, whilst 66 percent said that they found the device beneficial to them.

“This study tracked the post-treatment therapeutic effects for 12 months, which is a first for the tinnitus field in evaluating the long-term outcomes of a medical device approach, said Professor Hubert Lim of the University of Minnesota who contributed to the research.