The short answer is no. At the current time, there are many studies investigating substances that look promising to eliminate tinnitus for certain groups of people. I will keep you posted as new information becomes available. However, there is a long answer to the question of whether there is a current cure for tinnitus that I argue says yes there is.
There are two very distinct groups of people who have tinnitus. There are those who experience tinnitus but are not bothered by it and there are those that suffer from tinnitus. The people who experience tinnitus have tinnitus 24 hours a day 7 days a week. However, if you ask those people how much they are aware of their tinnitus, they may say 5-10% of the time or even less.
This group of people with tinnitus only notices the tinnitus when something draws attention to it. For instance, they may notice it when it is very quiet in the environment or when someone asks about it. The people who experience tinnitus do not have any problems usually associated with significant tinnitus like concentration or sleep issues.
On the other hand, someone who suffers from tinnitus, although it is present 24/7 like those who experience it, will be aware of tinnitus a significant percentage of the time. They may report being aware of their tinnitus 60, 70, 80, 90, 100% of the time. They are typically very annoyed by it and have concentration and sleep issues. Sometimes they report depression and anxiety as a result of the tinnitus. A significant portion of people who have bothersome tinnitus also develop sound sensitivities as well.
In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, Dr. Pawel Jastreboff developed Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) to help those people who suffer with tinnitus. TRT uses a combination of counseling/education and sound therapy to facilitate the habituation of reaction and perception of tinnitus. Using TRT, we help the person who suffers from tinnitus to become someone who just experiences tinnitus.
So I believe that is akin to a cure. People who suffer from tinnitus often times limit their environment in many ways to due to the tinnitus such as avoiding noisy places, restricting activities they enjoy like reading and quiet hobbies, and controlling their diet to avoid certain foods. At the completion of TRT, the former tinnitus sufferer can now resume activities that were previously avoided and have reduced their awareness to less than 10%.
In other words, tinnitus is no longer a problem in their life. Tinnitus has about as much importance as thinking about the clothes on their back or the sound of the hum of a refrigerator. To me, when a person no longer alters their lifestyle due to tinnitus, it represents a “cure”.