Tinnitus Treatment with Oxytocin: A Pilot Study

Andreia Aparecida Azevedo, Ricardo Rodrigues Figueiredo, Ana Belen Elgoyhen, Berthold Langguth, Norma De Oliveira Penido, Winfried Schlee

Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of an external stimulus. It is a frequent condition for which there is as yet no pharmacological treatment approved. Auditory and non-auditory pathways are involved in tinnitus' pathophysiology. Oxytocin is a neurohormone and eventual neurotransmitter that plays a complex role in social cognition and behavior. To evaluate the potential of oxytocin as a tinnitus treatment. Two studies were performed. Study 1 was a long-term open pilot study, while study 2 investigated short-term effects with a double-blinded placebo-controlled cross-over study. Ambulatory ENT care. In study 1, 15 patients were investigated over a 10-week period in an open pilot study. In study 2, 16 patients were included in a placebo-controlled crossover trial to investigate short-term effects following a single dose. For the long-term study (study 1), analysis of variance revealed a significant decrease in tinnitus sensation, both for the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and Clinical Global Impression (CGI). Also, the short-term effects in study 2 revealed a significant reduction of tinnitus because of the oxytocin nasal spray as measured with the Visual Analog Scale and the CGI Scale. These preliminary studies demonstrated that oxytocin may represent a helpful tool for treating tinnitus and further larger controlled studies are warranted.