Tinnitus & Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Tinnitus

• Defined as an unwanted auditory perception of internal origin, usually localized, and rarely heard by others.
• Severity of tinnitus varies from an occasional awareness of a noise (e.g., ringing, hissing, buzzing, roaring, clicking, or rough sounds) in one or both ears.

Tinnitus & Vitamin B12 Deficiency 

• Vitamin B deficiency is found to be common in tinnitus patient and  listed as one of the possible cause of tinnitus.  ^[1]
• Based on study by (Berkiten et al, 2013), B12 replacement treatment was not effective in these patients with tinnitus. Although, some patients improved following vitamin B12 supplementation but the results were not significant.
• Another study by (Park et al, 2006), concluded short-term B12 supplementation was unrelated to improvements in hearing status in B12-deficient individuals.
• However in another study by (Shamesh, 1993), some improvement in tinnitus were observed following vitamin B12 replacement therapy. 

Reference:       

1. Diagnostic Approach to Tinnitus. American Family Physician. Retrieved from http://www.aafp.org/afp/2004/0101/p120.html
2. Berkiten, G., Yildirim, G., Topaloglu, I., & Ugras, H. (2013). Vitamin B12 levels in patients with tinnitus and effectiveness of vitamin B12 treatment on hearing threshold and tinnitus. B-ENT, 9(2), 111–6. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23909117
3. Park, S., Johnson, M. A., Shea-Miller, K., De Chicchis, A. R., Allen, R. H., & Stabler, S. P. (2006). Age-related hearing loss, methylmalonic acid, and vitamin B12 status in older adults. Journal of Nutrition for the Elderly, 25(3-4), 105–20. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18032219
4. Shemesh, Z., Attias, J., Ornan, M., Shapira, N., & Shahar, A. (1993). Vitamin B12 deficiency in patients with chronic-tinnitus and noise-induced hearing loss. American Journal of Otolaryngology, 14(2), 94–9. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8484483