Trial reportScientific reports2017
Vagus Nerve Stimulation Paired with Tones for the Treatment of Tinnitus: A Prospective Randomized Double-blind Controlled Pilot Study in Humans.
Trial report in Scientific reports, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 90 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Blinded Randomized Pilot Study Assessing Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) Paired With Tones for Tinnitus vs. VNS With Unpaired Tones
Efficacy of Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation Paired With Tailor-Made Notched Music Therapy Versus Tailor-made Notched Music Training for Chronic Subjective Tinnitus: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-blind, Controlled Clinical Trial
Who cites it
90 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Neuromodulation for Subjective Tinnitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials.The Laryngoscope · 2026Pooled it
- Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Movement Disorders, from Principles to a Systematic Review of Evidence.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2025Pooled it
- Guideline
- Pooled it
- A multidisciplinary European guideline for tinnitus: diagnostics, assessment, and treatment.HNO · 2019Guideline
- Bimodal Stimulation of the Auditory-Somatosensory System Improves Auditory Sensory Gating Function in Patients with Tinnitus.Journal of the American Academy of Audiology · 2026Trial
- Estimation of Minimal Clinically Important Difference for Tinnitus Handicap Inventory and Tinnitus Functional Index.Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery · 2025Trial
- Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation improves sensory performance in humans: a randomized controlled crossover pilot study.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Different bimodal neuromodulation settings reduce tinnitus symptoms in a large randomized trial.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- Effect and Safety of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Recovery of Upper Limb Motor Function in Subacute Ischemic Stroke Patients: A Randomized Pilot Study.Neural plasticity · 2020Trial
- Influence of Acupuncture on Autonomic Balance in Adult Tinnitus Patients: An Exploratory Study.Current medical science · 2019Trial
- BOLD fMRI effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in patients with chronic tinnitus.PloS one · 2018Trial
- Autonomic and neural responses to varying transcutaneous cervical electrical stimulation parameters.Bioelectronic medicine · 2026Article
- Tinnitus.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2026Review
- Article
- A Review of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Disease: Comprehensive Theory and Evidence for Mechanisms of Action.Comprehensive physiology · 2026Review
- Neuroscientific therapies for subjective tinnitus.Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B · 2026Review
- Phase II Clinical Study on Low-Intensity-Noise Tinnitus Suppression (LINTS) for Tinnitus Treatment.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Inhibition of Cortical Evoked Responses to Sound Pulses by Preceding Silent Gaps.Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO · 2025Article
- A Single Dose of AC102 Reverts Tinnitus by Restoring Ribbon Synapses in Noise-Exposed Mongolian Gerbils.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
30 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The aim of the pilot study was to evaluate the effect of Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) paired with sounds in chronic tinnitus patients. All participants were implanted and randomized to a paired VNS (n = 16) or control (n = 14) group. After 6 weeks of home therapy, all participants received paired VNS. The device was used on 96% of days with good compliance. After 6 weeks, the paired VNS group improved on the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) (p = 0.0012) compared to controls (p = 0.1561). The between-group difference was 10.3% (p = 0.3393). Fifty percent of the participants in the paired VNS group showed clinically meaningful improvements compared to 28% in controls. At one year, 50% of participants had a clinically meaningful response. The therapy had greater benefits for participants with tonal and non-blast induced tinnitus at the end of 6 (24.3% vs. 2%, p = 0.05) and 12 weeks (34% vs. 2%, p = 0.004) compared to controls with 80% and 70% responding at 6 months and 1 year, respectively. Adverse effects were mild and well-tolerated and the therapy had a similar safety profile to VNS for epilepsy. VNS paired with tones may be effective for a subgroup of tinnitus patients and provides impetus for a larger pivotal study.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.