Management of subjective tinnitus with conductive hearing loss through Ayurveda: An experience

Tinnitus ( ~Karnanada ) is a type of perception of sound that people occasionally experience in the absence of an accompanying external sound. The noise can be intermittent or continuous and can vary in loudness. Tinnitus is frequently linked to hearing loss and impaired speech understanding in noisy settings. A 31-year-old female patient came to the outpatient department with complaints of annoying sounds in both ears, hearing impairment in the right ear, headache, and disturbed sleep for the past 3 years. The patient was examined using tuning fork test, pure-tone audiometry, and impedance audiometry, which led to a diagnosis of subjective tinnitus with conductive hearing loss in both ears. The difficulties faced by the patient in daily life due to tinnitus were assessed using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) questionnaire and the THI score. The patient was treated with Nirgundyadi taila karnapurana (~instillation of medicated oil in the ear) along with Ashwagandhadi ghrita orally for 21 days. The patient showed relief in tinnitus along with an improvement in hearing loss. There was no recurrence during a follow-up period of 30 days. The treatment reveals that Ayurvedic interventions are effective in the management of tinnitus quite efficiently.