Transient tinnitus suppression induced by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation

Abstract

Modulation of activity in the left temporoparietal area (LTA) by 10 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) results in a transient reduction of tinnitus. We aimed to replicate these results and test whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of LTA could yield similar effect. Patients with tinnitus underwent six different types of stimulation in a random order: 10-Hz rTMS of LTA, 10-Hz rTMS of mesial parietal cortex, sham rTMS, anodal tDCS of LTA, cathodal tDCS of LTA and sham tDCS. A non-parametric analysis of variance showed a significant main effect of type of stimulation (P = 0.002) and post hoc tests showed that 10-Hz rTMS and anodal tDCS of LTA resulted in a significant reduction of tinnitus. These effects were short lasting. These results replicate the findings of the previous study and, in addition, show preliminary evidence that anodal tDCS of LTA induces a similar transient tinnitus reduction as high-frequency rTMS.

Simultaneous EEG Monitoring During Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

“…tDCS is currently being investigated as a therapeutic instrument for varied neurological conditions, which includes major depression 14,15 , posttraumatic stress disorder 16 , craving for food 17 , marijuana 18 , alcohol 19 and smoking 20 , as well as pain 21 , tinnitus 22 , migraine 23 , epilepsy 24 , Parkinson's disease 25,26 , stroke rehabilitation 27,28 and cognitive dysfunction 6,29 . Table 1 shows the evidence-based tDCS electrode montages to be used as treatment for different clinical conditions.…”

Transcranial direct current stimulation as a tool in the study of sensory-perceptual processing

“…There are numerous examples were anodal tDCS over M1 induced decreases in pain perception. Fregni et al (2006c) reported significant pain relief improvements after the delivery of 20 min of anodal tDCS over M1 for five consecutive days in a sample of patients with spinal cord injury. Fregni et al (2006c) also found that this tDCS protocol induced pain relief in a sample of fibromyalgia patients for up to 3 weeks after the end of the stimulation.…”

Neuromodulation for the Treatment of Tinnitus

“…Anodal tDCS of the LTA has led to transient suppression of tinnitus in 42% [23] and 35% [18] of participants. A comparatively long-lasting impact on tinnitus perception, lasting up to a few days, was observed in a recent double-blind, sham-controlled study conducted by Garin et al [18] using tDCS for 20 minutes with 1 mA current intensity.…”

“…Anodal tDCS produced more favorable effects compared with cathodal or sham tDCS. Vanneste and colleagues [19] explored whether tDCS of DLPFC would suppress tinnitus and used a slightly higher current intensity (1.5 mA) than other authors [18,23]; they reported a 29.9% positive response rate with bifrontal tDCS using an anode on the right DLPFC and cathode on the left DLPFC. However, a review of studies conducted since 1998 using tDCS in humans under various clinical conditions showed that no studies used a current intensity greater than 2 mA [24].…”