Methods, systems, and devices for treating tinnitus with VNS pairing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9522085-B2
Application number	US-201414527316-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 29, 2014
Priority date	Jul 2, 2008
Publication date	Dec 20, 2016
Grant date	Dec 20, 2016

Abstract

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a clinical controller providing therapy output signals including stimulation signals and sound signals;
stimulator communicably connected to the clinical controller and receiving stimulation signals from the clinical controller; and
headphones communicably connected to the clinical controller and receiving sound signals from the clinical controller,
wherein
the clinical controller provides a series of sound signals to the headphones and stimulation signals to the stimulator to relieve tinnitus symptoms, and
the series of sound signals are configured to cause the headphones to output a series of discrete therapeutic tones separated by a quiet period, the discrete therapeutic tones having a frequency other than a predetermined tinnitus frequency of a patient having the tinnitus symptoms.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the clinical controller provides a series of sound signals to the headphones and stimulation signals to the stimulator so that the series of sound signals are paired with stimulation signals to relieve the tinnitus symptoms.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the clinical controller provides a series of sound signals to the headphones and stimulation signals to the stimulator so that the series of sound signals are temporally linked with stimulation signals to relieve the tinnitus symptoms.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the clinical controller provides a series of sound signals to the headphones and stimulation signals to the stimulator so that the series of sound signals are temporally proximate to stimulation signals to relieve the tinnitus symptoms.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the clinical controller simultaneously provides a series of sound signals to the headphones and stimulation signals to stimulator to relieve tinnitus symptoms.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the clinical controller provides respective sound signals to the headphones before providing respective stimulation signals to the stimulator to relieve the tinnitus symptoms.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the clinical controller provides respective sound signals to the headphones after providing respective stimulation signals to the stimulator to relieve the tinnitus symptoms.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the discrete therapeutic tones are pure tones.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the stimulation signal is a stimulation control signal.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the stimulation signal is a stimulation voltage.

11. A system comprising:
tinnitus therapy software configured to cause the generation of stimulation ion signals and sound signals;
a stimulator controllable by the tinnitus therapy software and receiving stimulation signals; and
headphones controllable by the tinnitus therapy software and receiving sound signals;
wherein
the tinnitus therapy software is configured to cause the provision of a series of sound signals to the headphones and stimulation signals to the stimulator, and
the series of sound signals are configured to cause the headphones to output a series of discrete therapeutic tones separated b a quiet period, the discrete therapeutic tones having a frequency other than a predetermined tinnitus frequency of a patient having the tinnitus symptoms.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the tinnitus therapy software is configured to cause the provision of a series of sound signals to the headphones and stimulation signals to the stimulator so that the series of sound signals are paired with the stimulation signals.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the tinnitus therapy software is configured to cause the provision of a series of sound signals to the headphones and stimulation signals to the stimulator so that the series of sound signals are temporally linked to the stimulation signals.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the tinnitus therapy software is configured to cause the provision of a series of sound signals to the headphones and stimulation signals to the stimulator so that the series of sound signals are temporally proximate to the stimulation signals.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the tinnitus therapy software is configured to cause the provision of respective sound signals to the headphones before the provision of respective stimulation signals to the stimulator.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the tinnitus therapy software is configured to cause the provision of respective sound signals to the headphones after the provision of respective stimulation signals to the stimulator.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the tinnitus therapy software is configured to cause the provision of respective sound signals to the headphones while causing the provision of respective stimulation signals to the stimulator.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the tinnitus therapy software is configured to cause the provision of a series of sound signals to the headphones and stimulation signals to the stimulator so that the series of sound signals and the stimulation signals are synchronized.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the stimulation signal is a stimulation control signal.

20. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the stimulation signal is a stimulation voltage.

21. A system comprising:
a clinical controller for providing therapy output signals including stimulation signals and sound signals;
a stimulator communicably connected to the clinical controller and receiving stimulation signals from the clinical controller; and
a sound generator communicably connected to the clinical controller and receiving sound signals from the clinical controller;
wherein
the clinical controller is configured to provide a plurality of sound signals to the sound generator and stimulation signals to the stimulator to relieve tinnitus symptoms, and
the clinical controller is configured to provide a plurality of sound signals such that the sound generator outputs respective therapeutic tones at least a half-octave above or below a predetermined tinnitus frequency of the patient having the tinnitus symptoms.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein:
the clinical controller is configured to provide the plurality of sound signals such that the sound generator outputs the respective therapeutic tones at least a half-octave above a predetermined tinnitus frequency of the patient having the tinnitus symptoms.

23. The system of claim 21 , wherein:
the clinical controller is configured to provide the plurality of sound signals such that the sound generator outputs the respective therapeutic tones at least a half-octave below a predetermined tinnitus frequency of the patient having the tinnitus symptoms.

24. The system of claim 21 , wherein the clinical controller is configured to provide a plurality of sound signals to the sound generator and stimulation signals to the sound generator so that the series of sound signals are paired with stimulation signals to relieve the tinnitus symptoms.

25. The system of claim 21 , wherein the clinical controller is configured to provide a plurality of sound signals to the sound generator and stimulation signals to the sound generator so that the series of sound signals are temporally linked to stimulation signals to relieve the tinnitus symptoms.

26. The system of claim 21 , wherein the clinical controller is configured to provide a plurali

Assignees

• Microtransponder Inc
• Univ Texas

Inventors

• Kilgard Michael P
• Engineer Navzer
• Pierce David Michael

Classifications

• G09B23/28

  for medicine · CPC title

• A61N1/36178

  Burst or pulse train parameters · CPC title

• A61N1/37235

  Aspects of the external programmer · CPC title

• A61N1/36171

  Frequency · CPC title

• A61B5/128

  evaluating tinnitus · CPC title