Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jun 2;12(6):733.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci12060733.

Effect of Ipsilateral, Contralateral or Bilateral Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Patients with Lateralized Tinnitus: A Placebo-Controlled Randomized Study

Yi Li  1 , Yong-Cong Shen  2 , John J Galvin 3rd  3   4 , Ji-Sheng Liu  2 , Duo-Duo Tao  5
Affiliations

Effect of Ipsilateral, Contralateral or Bilateral Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Patients with Lateralized Tinnitus: A Placebo-Controlled Randomized Study

Yi Li et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

The relative benefit of ipsilateral, contralateral, and bilateral repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for tinnitus treatment remains unclear, especially for patients with lateralized tinnitus. In this study, we compared outcomes after 10 sessions of 1-Hz rTMS at 110% of resting motor threshold over a two-week period. In total, 104 right-handed patients with lateralized subjective tinnitus were randomly divided into four groups according to rTMS treatment: Left (n = 29), Right (n = 23), Bilateral (n = 30), and Sham stimulation (n = 22). Outcomes included estimates of tinnitus severity, psychological state, and psychoacoustic measures. Patients with left- or right-sided tinnitus were similarly distributed across treatment groups. There were no significant changes in outcome measures for the Right or Sham treatment groups. For the Left and Bilateral groups, tinnitus severity was significantly lower after treatment (p < 0.05). The reduction in tinnitus severity was largest for ipsilateral treatment in the Left group. The overall response rate was 56.1% for the Left group, 46.7% for the Bilateral group, 8.3% for the Right group, and 8.3% for the Sham group. For the Left and Bilateral groups, the response rate was larger for patients with left- than right-sided tinnitus. Changes in tinnitus severity were best predicted by changes in anxiety, depression, and the loudness of the tinnitus. The results suggests that rTMS on the left temporoparietal cortex is more effective for patients with left-sided than with right-sided tinnitus.

Keywords: lateralized tinnitus; repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; subjective tinnitus; visual analogue scale.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Post-treatment VAS scores as a function of pre-treatment scores for the Left, Right, Bilateral and Sham treatment groups. The filled and open symbols show data for patients with left- or right-sided tinnitus, respectively. Values below the diagonal line indicate reduced VAS scores after treatment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Post-treatment THI scores as a function of pre-treatment scores for the Left, Right, Bilateral and Sham treatment groups. The filled and open symbols show data for patients with left- or right-sided tinnitus, respectively. Values below the diagonal line indicate reduced THI scores after treatment.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Post-treatment HADS-A scores as a function of pre-treatment scores for the Left, Right, Bilateral, and Sham treatment groups. The filled and open symbols show data for patients with left- or right-sided tinnitus, respectively. Values below the diagonal line indicate reduced anxiety after treatment.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Post-treatment HADS-D scores as a function of pre-treatment scores for the Left, Right, Bilateral, and Sham treatment groups. The filled and open symbols show data for patients with left- or right-sided tinnitus, respectively. Values below the diagonal line indicate reduced depression after treatment.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Post-treatment tinnitus pitch-matched frequency as a function of pre-treatment frequency for the Left, Right, Bilateral, and Sham treatment groups. The filled and open symbols show data for patients with left- or right-sided tinnitus, respectively. Values below the diagonal line indicate reduced tinnitus pitch frequency after treatment.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Post-treatment tinnitus loudness matching at the pitch-matched frequency as a function of pre-treatment loudness for the Left, Right, Bilateral, and Sham treatment groups. The filled and open symbols show data for patients with left- or right-sided tinnitus, respectively. Values below the diagonal line indicate reduced tinnitus loudness after treatment.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Vertical stacked bar charts showing the percentage of patients with various ranges of post-treatment changes in VAS scores the Left, Right, Bilateral, and Sham treatment groups. Reductions >10% were considered to be responders (gray bars), and reductions <10% were considered non-responders (white bars).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Vertical stacked bar charts showing the percentage of patients with various ranges of post-treatment changes in THI scores the Left, Right, Bilateral, and Sham treatment groups. Reductions >6 points were considered to be responders (gray bars), and reductions <6 points were considered non-responders (white bars).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Langguth B., Landgrebe M., Kleinjung T., Sand G.P., Hajak G. Tinnitus and depression. World J. Biol. Psychiatry. 2011;12:489–500. doi: 10.3109/15622975.2011.575178. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Langguth B., Kreuzer P.M., Kleinjung T., De Ridder D. Tinnitus: Causes and clinical management. Lancet Neurol. 2013;12:920–930. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(13)70160-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Elgoyhen A.B., Langguth B. Pharmacological approaches to the treatment of tinnitus. Drug Discov. Today. 2010;15:300–305. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2009.11.003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cima R.F., Maes I.H., Joore M.A., Scheyen D.J., El Refaie A., Baguley D.M., Anteunis L.J., van Breukelen G.J., Vlaeyen J.W. Specialised treatment based on cognitive behaviour therapy versus usual care for tinnitus: A randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2012;379:1951–1959. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60469-3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hobson J., Chisholm E., El Refaie A. Sound therapy (masking) in the management of tinnitus in adults. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 2010;8:CD006371. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD006371. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources