Ear Acupuncture –
A Way to Treat Tinnitus aurium

1. Explaining the disease from a holistic standpoint

Tinnitus aurium is a widespread disease. The sounds that drive patients nuts have been described by one patient as: growling, droning or roaring, ringing (similar to that of bells), pulsating, throbbing. Another patient described them this way: whistling, singing, buzzing, humming, hissing. Phenomena also occur resembling echoes of sound. Or there are clicks in the ear or snaps when chewing or swallowing. These sounds are either constantly present or periodically disruptive. They can worsen when listening to music, or on the contrary, they may even tend to improve.

The causes are as varied as the symptoms. Some people become ill following sudden deafness, others become ill due to de-compensated renal metabolism, while a third group may experience blocked cervical vertebrae.

Healing is possible only if such diseases are examined very carefully and if the actual causes are taken into account during treatment on an individual and person-oriented basis. Undoubtedly, these diseases cannot be considered as disturbances of the auditory system alone. As a rule, Tinnitus presents symptomatically rather than as a causal factor. External origins such as traumas that have caused irreversible damage to the auditory system represent only minor problems to the therapist when investigating causal factors. However, major causal relationships within the body’s system can result in sudden deafness and such interactions are not always easy to understand.

Therefore it is no surprise that a recently acclaimed treatment model remains to be challenged in public. It consists in accommodating tinnitus patients to their ear noises (under the motto: “I'm still wetting my pants, but I don’t fret about it any more.”). This procedure involves long-term treatment for which insurance companies spend a lot of money. From my personal point of view, this type of approach and "treatment" represents the epitome of listlessness.

NOW THEN: Whoever wants to heal tinnitus must first accept the fact that tinnitus itself does not exist in a vacuum without causal relationships. The actual problem then is simply that healing is difficult without knowing which factors are causing the disease.

One model for understanding diseases within a specific context is traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). I am aware that translating Asiatic understanding of illness into our ways of thinking is not an easy task. However, when it comes to tinnitus, such insights are invaluable resources that go even beyond the subject of the ear. As will be shown, we can arrive at the same conclusion through other means that,

• one of the main causes of tinnitus is a disturbance of the kidney/bladder area.

In my opinion (which is based upon practical experience), tinnitus can be retraced to this one source in at least 60 % of all cases.

Traditional Chinese medicine offers the following explanation: Apart from reproductive capacities and regeneration, kidneys and their meridians govern the regulation of body fluids, the functioning of joints (hips and knees), hair growth, and functioning of the ears and brain. In fact, kidneys are the starting point of our very life force.

For example, tinnitus may also be caused by kidney weaknesses that have developed within an organism resulting from other diseases, or from stress, wrong nutrition and the abuse of alcohol and medical drugs.

For instance, if kidneys suffer from a lack of warmth (which can actually be felt in this area!), then this condition signifies a lack of yang energy. Accordingly, the results are lumbago, cold and painful knees, dizziness, hypo-thyroidism and tinnitus (among other things). In the event of a yin deficiency (i.e. an excess of yang energy), then opposite symptoms will occur such as increases in body temperature, a red face, (nocturnal) sweating, sleeplessness, restlessness, etc., which also includes pain in the lower back and heels and also ear noises, as mentioned above.

Other causes may include obstetric problems, resulting in sensitivity to internal coolness (with respect to cold drinks, salads etc.) or to external coolness (cold weather, swimming too long, etc.). Symptoms of such disturbances can range from pains in the lower abdomen/womb (which can be somewhat alleviated by warmth), to delayed or missing periods, to frequent urges to urinate (especially at night), etc., up to and including tinnitus. Often kidney/bladder weakness also plays a role in this regard as well.

Liver problems (yin deficiency/yang excess) resulting from excessive alcohol, smoking, wrong nutrition etc. may lead to neuroses, increased blood pressure and eye and ear complaints. Of course, kidney involvement must also be taken into account. Do kidney problems ever really exist without affecting liver metabolism? The consequences are stress, dizziness, aggression, headaches, etc. And tinnitus.

2. Visual Diagnostics

A thorough medical history of the patient plus a clinical examination are necessary in order to recognise such patterns involving tinnitus. Naturally, differential diagnosis also includes the use of other empirical examinations to assist in establishing a sound opinion.

Iris diagnostics is one such procedure of analysing the eye in order to recognise diseases. It originated from semiotics, which is the theory of a holistic evaluation of bodily symptoms (hair, skin, and  eye colour, urinalysis, palmistry, nail diagnostics, tongue diagnostics etc.). Formerly, iris diagnostics was a customary ingredient in the toolbox of all medical doctors until about the beginning of the 19th century. (Where has all the knowledge gone?)

Iris diagnostics goes back to the Hungarian physician von Peczely who presented his discovery to the public in 1881. Peczely originally taught (as is still being taught today) that certain symptoms within the iris could be associated with certain organic disorders. Based upon the topography of the eye, phenomena associated with the constitution of the iris plus the symptoms, structures and pigmentations included in eye diagnostics all serve to open the possibility of discovering causes of a particular disease and its probable course, and to recognise its disposition. Such pathological indications can be found in the iris and the sclera of the eye.

Right Eye   Left Eye)

If disturbance fields have been found through iris diagnostics within the opposite iris segment of the right eye at 50 to 55 for the ear and 20 to 25 for the bladder, and within the left eye at 5–10 for the ear and 35–40 for the bladder, then this finding indicates, first of all, an ear/bladder connection. Thus, evidence exists that this patient not only has an ear problem, but indeed a severe bladder/kidney problem. Accordingly, the kidney/bladder problem must be eliminated in order to cure the tinnitus disease.

Ear acupuncture is a method for identifying such interactions.

Ear acupuncture is, first of all, a therapy in the primary sense. However, potential inherent in the ear for providing clues to the aetiology of diseases is often underestimated or even ignored.

Ear acupuncture is a segment therapy, i.e. neuro-physiological mechanisms are involved in the projection of peripheral body disturbances onto the ear. Thus, disturbances are represented in the ear and such signs can be perceived (that is: touched, seen, measured). Through evaluation of these symptoms, possible causes of diseases can be considered plus treatment alternatives that influence the body through application of specific stimuli. 

Basically, any functional disturbance can be appropriately treated within its own specific context.

All pains (and all functional pains in particular) can be influenced, alleviated and often completely dissipated by treatment via the ear.

Ear acupuncture is especially suited for use in emergency medical procedures due to its quick and precise access to biochemical interactions in the body.

Ear acupuncture is incredibly relaxing. NOGIER has therefore recommended this therapy for treatment of all complaints relating to the central nervous system such as anxiety conditions, agoraphobia, obsession, concentration deficiency, dizziness, stammering, etc. The balancing and relaxing effect of ear acupuncture is also welcomed in geriatrics and the treatment of older persons.

Ear acupuncture is especially valued in treating addictions. Various withdrawal programmes designed to manage alcohol abuse, other drug or medicinal drug abuse, smoking, and food craving, for example, enable therapists to confront individual situations of addicted patients.

Here it is very important to understand the principle that chronic illness is represented in the ear in the form of lineally organised points. NOGIER had emphasised in his early publications that pertinent causal connections of a given disease were also visible within the energy lines of the ear in addition to the several respective organ or organ system points.

My practical work with treatment lines has reconfirmed that indeed, when virulent, all points occurring on such lines can be assigned to a specific disease.

When recalling different areas of the ear plus the organs or organ-systems represented there, the innately profound meaning of this concept can be recognised. According to embryological development, the concha reflects entodermal organs (stomach and intestines, inner organs); the area between concha and helix reflects the mesodermal somatotopies  (bones, muscles, vessels, heart, kidney, genitals), while the back of the ear, the helix rim and the ear lobes reflect the nervous system and the skin.

Since the points found for reflexes or organ disturbances are always situated along a treatment line that runs from zero to the helix across the ear, a certain state of illness is always represented on each of the three germ layers, and all layers are affected by any given treatment. This is the basis for the far-reaching therapeutic implications that exist in ear acupuncture. It means that a whole segment reveals itself as a disease complex for both diagnosis and treatment.

The resulting treatment concept is quite simple. Virulent points are sought and treated along the treatment line that is indicated for the respective diseases and their corresponding points.

To illustrate this, I would like to describe two cases of tinnitus and their treatment via the ear.

Case 1:

The patient is 56 years old, a gaunt, highly sensitive woman who has been suffering for years from roaring ear noises accompanied by light deafness.

Her medical history reveals that she also has joint problems (clicking) and urine retention despite the urge to pass water. The patient has a striking aversion to all sweets. In addition, she suffers from a left-sided sciatic syndrome that occurs quite frequently. Furthermore, warts are present especially on the hands and in the face, which are hard, indented, and tend to burst open.

During iris diagnosis, fields of disturbance were found in the opposite iris segments for ear and bladder which points to the causal ‘bladder’ factor as mentioned above.

Moreover, the ear also shows considerable swelling in the ‘bladder’ area (in the concha) that stands out from the surrounding area due to its pale colour. The facilitated segment and hence the ray of treatment run through the bladder area. The points found are: ‘bladder’, L4/5, ‘knee’, ‘hyper-tonicity’ and ‘allergy’ while the correspondence line runs through the ‘inner ear’ point on the lobe.

Thus, a causal interaction exists between the ear noises and disturbances in the kidney/bladder area. In such instances, the cause must be treated. The ear (inner ear) as the target organ is less important for the treatment. First of all, the bladder needs to be strengthened and the urea cycle re-organised. The virulent points will be treated. In addition to the points mentioned, a lung point (lack of energy, point 100) was needled as well as points along the line of sounds and the ‘outer ear’ point.

After three treatments in intervals of two weeks, a significant improvement was reported. Thereafter, treatment intervals were extended to three weeks (another four treatments!). After that, treatment was successfully terminated. This was two years ago. Disturbances have not recurred.

Case 2:

A completely different problem is presented in the case of a younger woman who is 34 years old. The patient came for treatment because of severe depressions and states of anxiety. She is full of defences and is threatened by everything around her; everything is overwhelming. The patient suffers constantly from light headaches and dizziness. She sneezes in the morning. Morning nausea settles after breakfast. Her gums bleed easily without much stimulation. She suffers from bloating and burping that worsens after eating. Bowel movements are a problem – constipation. Especially in the evenings she has bladder cramps and generally a slight burning in the urethra. She does not enjoy sex and suffers from dropping complaints in the womb. Her husband gets on her nerves. Tension pains in the left shoulder blade and pains in the thoracic spine become aggravated when walking for a longer periods of time. There is often a tearing pain in the calves that extends through the heel. The patient also complains about pains in the right hip which improve when walking.

She has dry skin and red spots on neck and chin.

And she has tinnitus which precipitates especially during the evening and at night. During the day it is comprised of a whizzing sound connected with a feeling as though the ears were blocked. At night, the noise increases into pulsating howling.

The treatment ray found runs through C6. Virulent points here are stomach, an endogenous regulation point in the curve of the ant-helix, shoulder and nervous regulation points of shoulder and stomach. Via the correspondence ray, we find the important complementing points ‘uterus’ and the correspondence point ‘renal parenchyma’. In addition the inner ear points, Shen Men (blockages of the small pelvis), right hip and points on the line of sounds are treated.

Significant relaxation of the psychological situation occurred already after the first treatment and it stabilised after only a few treatments. The ear noises still occurred but only sporadically after the second treatment and then stopped completely. The causes of stress and endogenous problems had obviously been triggering factors.

I would like to emphasise that the symptoms exhibited in both cases also indicated the pathway to treatment. These case histories are in no way recipes for treating other cases of tinnitus! They have merely been utilised in an exemplary fashion to illustrate how to arrive at decisions for treatment strategies.

The next sampling of ‘ear noises’ will belong to a completely different person and will have completely different causes.