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> CONCLUSIONS. Our results support the hypothesis that the transition from occasional to constant tinnitus is accompanied by neuronal changes in the midbrain leading to a persisting tinnitus, which is then less likely to remit.

It was actually easier to come to terms with my tinnitus, once I realised that it was never going away.

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the "maladaptive plasticity" framework for thinking about tinnitus is certainly a fairly convincing one.

Do these results suggest no treatment will be possible?

They simply found evidence that 1) the more often one has occasional tinnitus the more likely it will become permanent and 2) the longer a tinnitus lasts, the more likely it won't go away again and 3) people having permanent tinnitus have neuronal brain changes that can be measured, in contrast to those that only suffer from occasional one.

The only thing treatment related, or "actionable information" one could derive here is that its prudent to aggressively treat those with frequent occasional tinnitus or a tinnitus that already lasts longer than normal but isn't considered permanent yet.

1) and 2) sound a bit like covid / long covid symptoms.

Anecdotally, some people find magnesium supplements helpful.

I have noise induced tinnitus and have found that benzodiazepine makes it completely silent. That silence comes with a pretty steep price though, in regards to the side effects. So there certainly is potential for a cure, and there's always a few trials going on. One that's particularly interesting is https://www.withpower.com/trial/phase-3-tinnitus-6-2021-925a.... I don't remember where I read it, but the reason they're trialing Etanercept is because they tested it on 12 people where I recall 11 of them experienced quieter tinnitus. If it works, then we have an FDA and EMA approved product for treatment.

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