OBJECTIVES: Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of an external source, which is associated with unpleasantness and suffering in tinnitus disorder. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), paired with nontinnitus sounds, has shown promise in reversing tonotopic map changes seen in tinnitus....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
This is an early-phase safety and feasibility trial; no actionable change to tinnitus management practice is warranted until efficacy data from adequately powered trials are available.
Vagus nerve stimulation paired with sound represents a neuromodulation approach to tinnitus that, if proven effective, could offer a non-pharmacological treatment option beyond current sound therapy and CBT.
- 01Phase: safety and feasibility trial — not an efficacy RCT.
- 02Intervention: sound-paired vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) targeting tinnitus.
- 03Published in Neuromodulation (peer-reviewed journal).
- 04Primary focus is safety profile and procedural feasibility, not symptom outcomes.
- 05Findings will inform the design of future, larger efficacy trials.
Sound-paired vagus nerve stimulation is safe and feasible as a tinnitus treatment.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42730729
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.neurom.2026.08.002.
- Journal
- Neuromodulation
- Publication type
- clinical_trial
- Evidence level
- 1b
- Population
- Adults with tinnitus disorder
- Intervention
- Sound-paired vagus nerve stimulation (VNS)
Primary outcomes
Safety of sound-paired VNS; Feasibility of the treatment protocol