Authors
Reinema, L. M., Meiser, A., Mellerke, N., Rodriguez De Castro, D., Stecher, H. I., Radeloff, A., Herrmann, C.
Abstract
Background: Non-invasive transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) of the cochlea might be a promising new therapeutic option for patients with chronic tinnitus. However, electric stimulation of small, sensitive target regions, such as the inner ear, can cause ad-verse side effects (SEs). Objective: To identify stimulation parameters with low side-effect profiles while reliably stimulating the cochlea, thereby improving patient comfort and safety and paving the way for the development of a medical device for treating patients with chronic tinnitus. Approach: Hearing-healthy participants were stimulated with electrodes in the ear canal. Stimulation of the cochlea elicits a soft hearing impression (HI) in participants, indicating successful stimulation of the early auditory pathway. We systematically compare HS and SEs across distinct electrode configurations and stimulation parameters, including stimulation frequency and the presence of a Direct Current (DC)-offset. We record SE occurrence via vis-ual analog scales after stimulation. Main Results: We find that tACS stimulation between 250 and 2000 Hz reliably elicits HIs in participants. SEs are generally low. No occurrence of SEs resulted in participant withdrawal or severe adverse events, with only phosphenes, skin tingling, and a sense of vibration being reported as impactful. The addition of a slight DC-offset increases the occurrence and magni-tude of SEs considerably. Significance: Our results demonstrate the feasibility of tACS in non-invasively stimulating the auditory pathway with minimal adverse SE. Stimulation parameters with a low SE profile can be applied in further studies with tinnitus patients.
Preprint server:
bioRxiv
The authors list and abstract were imported from bioRxiv on 01 Nov 2025.
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