Glutamate Antagonists, Steroids, and Antioxidants as Therapeutic Options for Hearing Loss and Tinnitus and the Use of an Inner Ear Drug Delivery System

Abstract

A wealth of anecdotal, empirica], and double-blind placebo-controlled data exists on medicines that may have a beneficial role in the management of patients with tinnitus. Tinnitus is a symptom that affects between 40 and 45 million Americans alone; this represents approximately 14% of the US population. Data exist for Japan (population: 125,732,794), Europe (population: 503 million), and Australia (population: 18,426,900), and estimates suggest that tinnitus affects a similar percentage of those populations (B. Tabachnick, personal communication, 1998). Thus, in those industrialized nations, approximately 90 million may experience tinnitus to some degree. One to two percent of the population expriences debilitating tinnitus, severely limiting the quality of life of affected individuals. All too often, the response from well-trained medical professionals is, "Learn to live with it" or "There is no cure." Although the author does not dispute that currently no cure exists, I contend that help is available. This article discusses the use of glutamate antagonists, steroids, and antioxidants for the management of hearing loss and tinnitus. Additionally, the results of using an inner ear drug delivery system on nine patients with a variety of inner ear disorders are reviewed briefly.