METHODS, SYSTEMS, AND DEVICES FOR TREATING TINNITUS WITH VNS PAIRING
A method of treating tinnitus comprising measuring a patient's hearing, determining the patient's hearing loss and the patient's tinnitus frequency using the measurements of the patient's hearing, programming a clinical controller with the measurements of the patient's hearing, selecting a plurality of therapeutic tones, where the therapeutic tones are selected to be at least a half-octave above or below of the patient's tinnitus frequency, setting an appropriate volume for each of the plurality of tones, repetitively playing each of the plurality of therapeutic tones, and pairing a vagus nerve stimulation pulse train with each playing of a therapeutic tone, thereby reducing the patient's perception of tinnitus.
1 . A system comprising:
tinnitus therapy software generating stimulation signals and sound signals;
a stimulator communicatively connected to the tinnitus therapy software and receiving stimulation signals; and
a sound generator connected to the tinnitus therapy software and receiving sound signals;
wherein the tinnitus therapy software provides a plurality of sound signals to the sound generator and stimulation signals to the stimulator.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the stimulation signal is a stimulation control signal.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the stimulation signal is a stimulation voltage.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the tinnitus therapy software provides a plurality of sound signals to the sound generator and stimulation signals to the stimulator so that the series of sound signals are paired with the stimulation signals.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the tinnitus therapy software provides a plurality of sound signals to the sound generator and stimulation signals to the stimulator so that the series of sound signals are temporarily linked with the stimulation signals.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the tinnitus therapy software provides a plurality of sound signals to the sound generator and stimulation signals to the stimulator so that the series of sound signals are synchronized with the stimulation signals.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the tinnitus therapy software provides a plurality of sound signals to the sound generator and stimulation signals to the stimulator so that the series of sound signals are temporally proximate to the stimulation signals.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the tinnitus therapy software provides respective sound signals to the headphones before providing respective stimulation signals to the stimulator to relieve tinnitus symptoms.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the tinnitus therapy software provides respective sound signals to the headphones after providing respective stimulation signals to the stimulator to relieve tinnitus symptoms.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the tinnitus therapy software is configured such that the headphones output therapeutic pure tones upon receipt of the sound signals.
11 . A system, comprising:
a means for generating therapeutic signals including stimulation signals and sound signals;
a means for receiving stimulation signals from the means for generating therapeutic signals and conducting the received stimulation signals to a patient; and
means for receiving sound signals from the means for generating therapeutic signals and for generating a series of sounds based on the received sound signals, wherein
the means for generating the therapeutic signals, in conjunction with the means for receiving simulation signals and the means for generating a series of sounds, relieve tinnitus symptoms.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the stimulation signal is a stimulation control signal.
13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the stimulation signal is a stimulation voltage.
14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the means for generating therapeutic signals is configured to generate therapeutic tones of a pure sine wave with a sampling rate that is at least twice as high as the highest frequency of the generated therapeutic tone.
15 . A system comprising:
a means for providing therapeutic output signals including stimulation signals and sound signals;
a means for providing stimulation to a patient communicatively connected to the means for providing therapeutic output signals and receiving stimulation signals from the clinical controller; and
a means for generating sound communicatively connected to the means for providing the therapeutic output signals, wherein the means for generating sound is also a means for receiving sound signals from the means for providing therapeutic output signals,
wherein the means for providing therapeutic output signals provides a plurality of sound signals to the means for generating sound and provides a plurality of stimulation signals to the means for providing stimulation so that the series of sound signals are paired with stimulation signals to relieve tinnitus symptoms.
16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein:
the stimulation signal is a stimulation control signal.
17 . The system of claim 15 , wherein:
the stimulation signal is a stimulation voltage.
18 . The system of claim 15 , wherein:
the means for providing therapeutic output signals is configured to generate therapeutic tones of a pure sine wave with a sampling rate that is at least twice as high as the highest frequency of the generated therapeutic tone.
19 . A method of treating tinnitus comprising:
playing a plurality of discrete therapeutic sounds; and
combining a vagus nerve stimulation pulse train with respective discrete therapeutic sounds of the plurality of discrete therapeutic sounds, thereby reducing the patient's perception of tinnitus.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein:
the plurality of discrete therapeutic sounds are pure sine wave tones.
21 . The method of claim 20 , further comprising generating the pure sine wave tones with a sampling rate that is at least twice as high as the highest frequency of the generated therapeutic tone.
22 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
introducing a ramp, thereby modulating at least one of a start or stop of the pure sine wave tones.
23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the ramp is a 4 to 10 millisecond ramp.
24 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the action of playing the plurality of discrete therapeutic sounds is executed using headphones having left and right speakers, the method further comprising:
adjusting phase and amplitude between the left and right speakers.
25 . The method of claim 19 , wherein:
the method is executed in a therapy regime comprising six weeks of therapy sessions.
26 . The method of claim 19 , wherein:
the action of playing a plurality of discrete therapeutic sounds includes spacing the discrete therapeutic sounds by at least 8 seconds.
27 . The method of claim 19 , wherein:
the action of playing a plurality of discrete therapeutic sounds includes spacing the discrete therapeutic sounds by about 30 seconds.
28 . The method of claim 19 , wherein:
the action of playing a plurality of discrete therapeutic sounds includes spacing the discrete therapeutic sounds by 30 seconds.