New FDA tinnitus treatment device helps Southern Colorado patients

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- There's a new The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved tinnitus technology that's showing great results according to early studies. It's a device that can be used at home, and many in Colorado Springs are already using it. KRDO13 met with a doctor who's the only one in southern Colorado who's been approved for the device.

"Essentially, your brain is searching for something that is not there," says Dr. Cassie Iliff, a doctor of audiology at Hearing Consultants of Colorado Springs. "Most of the patients with tinnitus have some damage to their hearing organ. And when they have that damage to their hearing organ, their brain goes, 'Hey, I am missing sound,' and it searches and searches and eventually it just makes something up. So it is a brain and ear problem."

While there have long been different tinnitus treatments and devices on the market, this new FDA-approved one is changing the game. Dr. Iliff says it's showing positive results because it doesn't just stimulate the ears, but also the tongue.

"Lenire is a bimodal stimulation device where the patients will wear headphones, and then they will have a tongue tip that has an electro-ray, and they will listen to sound through their ears, and then their tongue will be stimulated," says Dr. Iliff. "It's called neuro-modularization where the brain will essentially learn to dismiss or ignore the tinnitus."

Here's how the Lenire device works: "While this is playing, it sounds like spa music and then I am getting the little light gentle pulses on my tongue," says Dr. Iliff.

The Lenire device is not covered by insurance and costs $4,500 for the device and 12 weeks of treatment.

"Everyone is on their own timeline," says Dr. Iliff. "Some patients feel better in 12 weeks, 24, 36. It is very dependent on the patient. The main thing is you need to be consistent with the therapy. It is two 30-minute sessions a day where you are stimulating the tongue and ears simultaneously."

If Lenire is too expensive or isn't right based on the severity of your tinnitus, Dr. Iliff says they offer several other treatment options as well.

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