Body of Research

Tinnitus can become a strong stressor for some individuals, and lead to an imbalance of the autonomous nervous system resulting in reduced parasympathetic activity which may manifest as sleep disturbances, anxiety and even depression. Transcutaneous auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation (taVNS) has been shown to activate the vagal pathways, and a therapeutic alternative in health conditions such as tinnitus-related mental stress (TRMS). In a retrospective study of 171 TRMS patients, suffering from associated symptoms such as sleep disturbances and anxiety, baseline HRV data showed that more than three quarters of the 171 patients had increased sympathetic activity before test-taVNS. After treatment, test-taVNS shifted mean values of different HRV parameters toward increased parasympathetic activity in about 80% of patients. An auricular VNS treatment program can effectively alleviate tinnitus stress and handicap. Read the full paper at Frontiers in Psychology.

Citation: Ylikoski J, Markkanen M, Pirvola U, Lehtimäki A, Ylikoski M, Jing Z, Sinkkonen S, Mäkitie A. Stress and Tinnitus; Transcutaneous Auricular Vagal Nerve Stimulation Attenuates Tinnitus-Triggered Stress Reaction. Frontiers in Psychology. 2020;11: 2442. 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.570196