TL;DR
There is still no cure for ringing in the ears, and no drug for it in sight before about 2030. What changed this month is the rulebook: the first U.S. tinnitus guideline in 12 years lets doctors offer a device that pairs sound with mild electrical pulses to the tongue, an attempt to retrain how the brain handles the phantom noise, while telling them to skip pills and supplements. The bigger hope comes from next door. Gene therapy now restores hearing in some deaf children, and brain implants can read nerve signals in people. If either line of work reaches tinnitus, the future treatment might fix the ear or quiet the circuit, not just mask the sound.
Below the line, for paid subscribers: The full story: where it stands, how we got here and what's dated next; our Odds board on 4 milestones, starting with "A sham-controlled trial of sound-plus-tongue stimulation reports results by 2029"; our labeled speculation on what it adds up to; and every source.