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Scientist 'disappointed' we have a 92 percent successful hiccup cure and nobody is talking about it

This one really flew under the radar.

scientist, hiccups, hacks, hiccup cure, scientific research

A scientist shared his surprise upon learning of a hiccup "cure" with a 92% success rate.

Photo credit: Canva, pixelshot (left) and nicoletaionescu from Getty Images (right)
Ryan Reed
By Ryan ReedAug 20, 2025
Ryan Reed
Ryan Reed is a contributing writer for GOOD residing in Knoxville, Tennessee. He has contributed to Rolling Stone, Relix, Revolver, SPIN and The New York Times.
See Full Bio

If you’ve been around long enough, you’ve probably been taught some kind of trick for "curing" hiccups. Maybe someone—like Jerry Stiller’s character, Arthur Spooner, on the sitcom The King of Queens—has tried to literally scare you out of them. Or maybe you’ve trusted a more reliable source, like the Cleveland Clinic, which suggests remedies like briefly holding your breath, sipping cold water, biting into a lemon, pulling on your tongue, pressing on your eyes, breathing into a paper bag, drinking or gargling ice water, or swallowing a spoonful of sugar.

But as that source notes, there has never been a true expert cure for these irritating spasms of the diaphragm. Until...2021. Wait—wait? As Kareem Clark, PhD showcased on social media, a recently created device may have cracked the code as researchers documented in a study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. Apparently we may have been scaring ourselves for no reason.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

The hiccup "cure"

"Um, did y’all know we cured hiccups, like as a society?" Clark asked, with intense confusion, in a TikTok video. "I’m a scientist. I have a PhD. I was about to make a cute little video about the best ways to beat hiccups, according to science. But the first Google result is the cure for hiccups! Why is this not bigger news? And I’m so disappointed because it’s not some cool inhaler or high-tech gadget. It’s a straw! It’s a freaking straw you suck through, and it resets your diaphragm supposedly. And then I was like, 'Surely that’s bulls***, right? Like, some ShamWow garbage? No, they did a whole study for it. It has a 92% success rate. Where’s the Nobel Prize?"

The study, titled "Evaluation of the Forced Inspiratory Suction and Swallow Tool to Stop Hiccups," opens by acknowledging that home hiccup remedies have often been "plagued by unclear instructions, inconsistent performance, and poor effectiveness." Therefore, they evaluated the previously mentioned tool (FISST), a low-cost instrument that "stimulates the phrenic and vagus nerves by inducing diaphragmatic contraction and epiglottis enclosure, respectively." You probably need a PhD, like Clark, to understand the science, but any layman can interpret their general findings.

@kareemclarkphd

TikTok · Kareem Clark, PhD

Better than home remedies?

The authors wrote that the FISST—patented and branded as "HiccAway"—was sent to 674 participants around the world, "and 290 participants (43%) provided written consent to participate," with 249 responses "validated." Aiming to assess its success rate compared to home remedies, they found that FISST stopped hiccups in "nearly 92% [of] cases and was rated favorably compared with home remedies across all demographic characteristics, hiccup frequencies, and hiccup durations." Meanwhile, no adverse effects were reported.

While the authors acknowledged certain limitations to the study, including the absence of a control group and the subjective nature of their scoring system, they feel the FISST is worthy of further investigation. Perhaps, once and for all as a species, we can put an end to this annoyance.

Meanwhile, those home remedies will always be there waiting for you, even if your particular mileage may vary. "Next time any of y’all have hiccups, just keep telling yourself that hiccups aren’t real and they don’t even exist," one user wrote in the TikTok comments. "I have no idea why, but gaslighting yourself into thinking hiccups don’t exist works 100% of the time with everyone I’ve tried it with." Hey, whatever works!

- YouTube www.youtube.com

hiccupshackshealthscientiststiktokhome remedymedical studiesresearch findingshiccup remediesscience

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