Prolonged reduction or abolition of tinnitus has been reported in about two-thirds of patients treated with a single or weekly-repeated injection through the tympanic membrane of either dexamethasone or lignocaine. In a small-scale trial of these treatments, dexamethasone gave 6 patients little benefit but few side-effects. Lignocaine gave 5 patients no lasting benefit but violent vertigo for several hours. A. Axelsson (personal communication) had similar experience with 6 patients treated with intra-tympanic lignocaine. It is concluded that this form of treatment does not seem sufficiently effective to offset its low acceptability.