Pharmacological treatment of tinnitus with special reference to the role of melanin.

Local anaesthetics have hitherto been thought to exert their effects on tinnitus through a centrally operative mechanism, analogously to their effects in epilepsy and central pain. Evidences for a peripheral mechanism, probably related to the affinity of these drugs to inner ear melanin, are reviewed. The physico-chemical properties of melanin and findings indicating that this substance plays a role in hearing are also discussed.