The UCI Neurotology faculty, Drs. Abouzari, Lin & Djalilian with their research team published the results of their first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, the official publication of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. In this 4-year clinical trial, they evaluated the efficacy of nortriptyline-topiramate and verapamil-paroxetine combinations in tinnitus management. Both drug combinations resulted in a significant decrease in tinnitus severity captured by the TFI scores, which was not observed in the placebo group. Moving forward, larger-scale trials with longer follow-ups are warranted to validate their findings.

A randomized clinical trial reporting on the team’s internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) was also recently published in The Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology. The improvement seen with this therapy (improved TFI of 16.7) is on par or better than medical devices used for tinnitus and a fraction of the cost.