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The kitchen radio never gets switched off anymore

It began as a little company on long evenings. Somewhere along the way it became the one thing in the house that nobody reaches over to turn off.

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The report runs a few minutes

A television left low. A radio in the kitchen that never gets switched off. A fan running in a month when nobody needs one. Households collect these arrangements slowly, and almost nobody discusses them, because each one on its own sounds like nothing at all.

Why the evening, and not the day

Daytime has traffic, television, conversation and appliances running. The evening takes all of that away at once. For a lot of people past 50, the quietest room in the house is the one that became hardest to sit in, and the arrangements above are what that looks like from the outside.

What the video covers

The short report above walks through what happens in those hours, what changes with age in general terms, and what someone might reasonably ask their own doctor about before changing anything. It is a discussion of general information — not an assessment of any individual, and not a substitute for a conversation with a qualified professional.

What people commonly take, and what the research shows

Supplements are widely used for this. In a survey of 1,788 people with tinnitus across 53 countries, about a quarter reported taking one, most often ginkgo biloba, lipoflavonoids, vitamin B12, zinc, magnesium and melatonin.1 Below is what the published research says about the most common ones. This section is general information about ingredients in the category — it is not a description of any particular product, and none of it should be read as a recommendation.

  • Ginkgo biloba The most studied of the group. Used on the theory that it affects circulation to the inner ear. A Cochrane review pooling 12 trials and 1,915 participants found it may make little to no difference to tinnitus severity compared with placebo, and rated the certainty of that evidence as very low.2 Read the Cochrane review on ginkgo
  • Zinc Involved in normal function of the auditory pathway, which is why low levels have been studied as a factor. A Cochrane review found no evidence that oral zinc helps tinnitus, again with very low certainty evidence and few trials available.3 Read the Cochrane review on zinc
  • Melatonin Studied mainly for sleep rather than for the sound itself. An open-label study of 24 people taking 3 mg nightly reported improved questionnaire scores for both tinnitus handicap and sleep quality, but a randomised double-blind crossover trial of 30 people found no significant difference against placebo.4,5 Read the placebo-controlled trial
  • Magnesium Lower blood magnesium has been reported in some people with tinnitus, and it has been studied for its role in protecting nerve cells. Findings so far are preliminary rather than conclusive.6 Read the ATA summary of the research
  • Vitamin B12 Relevant mainly where a genuine deficiency exists, since B12 is required for normal nerve function. Correcting a documented deficiency is a different situation from supplementing when levels are already normal.1 Read the survey of supplement use

It is worth being plain about the overall picture. The clinical practice guideline from the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery advises clinicians against recommending ginkgo biloba, melatonin, zinc or other dietary supplements for persistent bothersome tinnitus, and no dietary supplement has been approved by the FDA for this purpose.7 Anyone considering one should talk it through with their own doctor first, particularly alongside blood thinners, where ginkgo carries a bleeding risk.

References

  1. Coelho C, Tyler R, Ji H, et al. Survey on the effectiveness of dietary supplements to treat tinnitus. American Journal of Audiology, 2016. PubMed 27681261
  2. Sereda M, Xia J, Scutt P, Hilton MP, El Refaie A, Hoare DJ. Ginkgo biloba for tinnitus. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2022, CD013514. Cochrane Library
  3. Person OC, Puga MES, da Silva EMK, Torloni MR. Zinc supplementation for tinnitus. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2016, CD009832. PubMed 27879981
  4. Megwalu UC, Finnell JE, Piccirillo JF. The effects of melatonin on tinnitus and sleep. Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, 2006. ScienceDirect
  5. Rosenberg SI, Silverstein H, Rowan PT, Olds MJ. Effect of melatonin on tinnitus. The Laryngoscope, 1998. PubMed 9504599
  6. American Tinnitus Association. Summary of the research on dietary supplements and tinnitus. ata.org
  7. Clinical practice guideline: tinnitus. American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. Summary of the guidance

Please read this part. This page is general information and nothing on it is a diagnosis or a treatment plan. It cannot tell you what is happening with your own health, and no product mentioned here is intended to treat any condition. Nothing here is a reason to stop, reduce or replace any medication you have been prescribed. If you have been diagnosed with a hearing condition, only your doctor can adjust your treatment, and you should speak with them before adding anything at all.