Posted on 06/23/2015 9:22:49 AM PDT by Red Badger
An Irish start-up has created a completely new approach to the treatment of tinnitus, which uses technology
Ross O’Neill of Neuromod Devices with a Mutebutton
For some it’s a high-pitched drone, for others a whooshing, hissing or buzzing. The layman’s name for it is “ringing in your ears”. The medical term is tinnitus and it can completely disrupt people’s lives making it impossible for them to work, sleep, socialise or concentrate on simple tasks.
There is no known cure. However, a new product from Irish technology start-up, Neuromod Devices, looks set to revolutionise its treatment.
The product is called Mutebutton and it has been developed by neuroscientist Ross O’Neill who spent six years researching neuromodulation technologies at the Hamilton Institute at NUI Maynooth before spinning out a company in 2010.
Just over four years later Neuromod Devices has jumped through all of the numerous medical, regulatory and logistical hoops required and the product is now available on the Irish market.
“Mutebutton is a completely new approach to the treatment of tinnitus as, unlike other technologies that only provide relief when using the device, Mutebutton can drive a real improvement in the patient’s condition,” O’Neill says. Symptoms Tinnitus is both an audiological and neurological condition and is the perception of sound although no external noise is present.
It can be temporary or chronic and induced by noise, an underlying illness or in a large number of cases, by age-related hearing loss.
Tinnitus can happen at any age but those over 50 are twice as likely to suffer from it as the hair cells in the inner ear that convert sound waves into neural impulses become damaged over time.
The Irish Tinnitus Association says about 45,000 people here have the condition.
The UK association says 10 per cent of the adult population there is affected while the US association puts the figure at 15 per cent with some 20 million Americans experiencing a debilitating form of the condition.
And tinnitus is not just about the noise. Depression, anxiety, and sleep deprivation are common secondary symptoms.
“I’ve spent nearly a decade working on this treatment and the aim was to develop a solution that was patient friendly and minimally invasive. We wanted to avoid anything that required implantation and therefore surgery,” O’Neill says.
“Twelve million people present to their doctor with clinically significant tinnitus each year in Europe and the US alone and with increasing levels of noise exposure from our environment and an aging population, tinnitus is a global condition that is expected to escalate dramatically in the coming years.”
One way to manage tinnitus is by drawing the brain’s attention away from the noise. However, many of the existing masking devices used to do so are unisensory and not particularly effective.
Mutebutton is a multi-sensory solution that marries relaxing sounds with the gentle stimulation of specific nerves in the tongue.
This combination makes use of a natural phenomenon that occurs within the brain (multi-sensory integration) to help it to better distinguish between genuine and false sounds.
Mutebutton comprises a set of headphones, a small tongue pad and a compact control unit. O’Neill says it should be used for 30 minutes a day for a minimum of 10 weeks to get results.
In clinical studies carried out by NUI Maynooth in conjunction with The Hermitage Clinic in Dublin the device has been shown to reduce tinnitus loudness by 42 per cent.
O’Neill collaborated with a number of experts on the development of Mutebutton including senior ENT surgeon Brendan Conlon of St James’s and Tallaght Hospitals, clinical audiologist Caroline Hamilton, a specialist in tinnitus, and design engineer Stephen Hughes who was a colleague at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) when O’Neill worked there as a researcher.
“Making prototypes is easy,” O’Neill says. “The big challenge is scaling up for manufacturing volumes which is where Stephen’s experience came into play. We’re delighted that the device is being made in Ireland by Molex in Shannon and M&M Qualtech in Galway. ” Target markets As of now the product is available privately only and costs €2,500. Primary target markets are Europe and the US which the company plans to enter in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
“In all markets we are taking a B2C and a B2B approach,” O’Neill says. “As the device is completely innovative we not only have to inform the public but also the medical community and potential distribution partners about it.”
The company is currently focused on launching Mutebutton, but Neuromod is not a one-trick pony.
Tinnitus is just one of the chronic conditions the innovative neurostimulation technologies can help.
“What we’ve developed is a stable platform technology for the rapid development and evaluation of other innovative neuromodulatory interventions,” O’Neill says. “This core technology is intended to form the basis for a pipeline of new products aimed at globally unmet clinical needs and high-value market opportunities.”
However, he won’t be drawn on the specifics beyond saying that the technology also works in other situations where neuro circuits are “behaving badly” such as tremors, spasms and illusory perceptions.
The development of Mutebutton has been financially supported by Science Foundation Ireland, the Higher Education Authority and Enterprise Ireland which contributed €400,000 under its high potential start-up fund. The company has also raised €2.3 million in angel and seed capital to date and is now revenue generating.
The intellectual property (IP) for Mutebutton has been licensed by Neuromod from NUI Maynooth and the company is now based at Nova UCD. “We wanted to base ourselves in Nova as they have a lot of IP protection experience and because there are many young companies based there who are facing the same challenges as we are. We find people are very willing to help and to give you the benefit of their experience informally over a cup of coffee,” O’Neill says.
LOL! I just realized I have ringing in my ears. Until reading this article I had pretty much tuned it out.
See my Post 10.
Unless you’re in Europe. Then it’s Tin Tinnitus. :-P
http://www.bestbuy.com
Ratha fratha #@!@!%$ use an electronic device to fix a problem I suspect is mostly caused by all the Frappin electronic devices in the world making high-pitched noises. And have to wear headphones? Nah. Mostly bothers me at bedtime after all the Frappin electronic devices are shutting up or far away. So I listen to the radio for awhile. Ha!
I have had this condition since 1969, in both ears.
Spending $4,000 for headphones and a tongue depressor to wear for 70 days for 30 minutes a day, is not an attractive proposal.
Kinda like someone saying "don't scratch, it just makes it worse".... ;-)
Static in the attic .
Went bird hunting about 25 years ago and probably fired the shot gun a few times and have had buzzing of my ears since, it is increased whenever there is loud noises around me... football games, movies, loud TV, etc. makes it worse. Also about 4 years age my sense of smell has gone.
Wasn’t expecting that to happen. My parents did not lose theirs ... or did not know they did.
Thank the LORD for the many blessings poured upon us daily, in Jesus name! Amen.
I sent the article to a local ex-weatherman, who may have lost his job because of it. He has been gone over a year now, and I haven’t heard if he still has it, but I figured he would still find it interesting.
Thanks for posting it!
‘Face
If you have ‘lost your sense of smell’ then it’s possible that you may have what is called an ‘Inverted Papilloma’.
I had one, a huge one! It got so big I could not breathe thru my nose. I had 3 separate surgeries in 2008 that finally got rid of it all. It was so huge the bone separating my two nasal cavities behind my forehead had been breached.
After the surgeries I sounded ‘different’ to myself when talking because I had changed the volume of my sinus cavity. It took about three months to get used to my new ‘voice’.
Also, I lost my sense of smell for about a year because they had to remove all the tissue from my sinuses down to the bone, and that included the olfactory nerve endings as well. They told me I had a 50/50 chance of getting it back, but I did. I could not smell anything at all, but now the smell of bacon is sweeter than ever!
You might want to check with an ENT doc and get a sinuscopy. It’s a little weird having a tube sent up your nose, but it’s not bad. My doc had a really small, thin probe with a video attachment so I could see what was going on inside my head!
Google ‘inverted papilloma images” for some really gross pics......
“Also about 4 years age my sense of smell has gone.”
Well, on the upside, you should be a wiz at changing diapers now.
My daughter, age 12, has hearing loss and tinnitus in one ear. It can be annoying to her. Maybe there will be affordable options in the future. Right now she would probably rather have the ringing than look like the guy in the photo.
For me is constant and intense, something akin to a loud 1000 hz tone. Had it for years resulting from working in and around high db areas in the military for over 20 years.
I would welcome something that would turn it off for good but I have learned to tune it out for the most part.
This d***** article popped to the forefront in my mind so now I’ll have to put up with it for the 30-60 minutes it will take to fully ignore it again. :)
Sorry 'bout that, Chief!.......................
Thank you for the information of your experience. I will mention it to my doctor. as we age we end up with several prescriptions which is a concern for their not being compatible with each other, or not. Probably not necessary in some cases. but which one are actually good and necessary? It is a concern, different Doctors over a few years.
A few years ago ART LINKLETTER wrote a book, Old Age is not for sissies. TRUE! It is hell! Different ages for different people.
HEAVENLY FATHER, THANK GOD FOR HEALTH EVERY DAY, AND ALL THE MANY BLESSINGS, WALKING TALKING SEEING HEARING SPEAKING, SMELLING TASTEING AND BEING CREATIVE THAT GOD POURS OVER US EVERYDAY, THANK GOD AND PRAISE GOD IN JESUS NAME, AMEN.
My cone of silence used to be the bathroom, in my bedroom, away from the kids. Didn’t do much for the tinnitus but the privacy was worth the sit.
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