A Real Cure for Tinnitus

[Philbo King]

I have an Android phone app called MyNoise which has a neuromodulator tinnitus preset. I've found it works pretty well if used regularly (i.e., earbuds while sleeping, set to the threshold if audibilty).

But you'd need a custom (Tesla coil?) peripheral plugged into the headphone jack to get the tongue shocks.

They also have a web site if you want to try it out first:
Mynoise.net

My tinnitus is related to the amount of 'eens' in my life: caffieine, nicotine, amphetamine (at least in the old days...) and actual teens...

 

[Mr. Widget]

I do know mine gets worse when I had too much coffee or take NSAIDS for headaches.

My headaches get worse when I worry too much about SINAD.

Sorry... I couldn't help myself. I know this is a serious problem and while my only experience with tinnitus has been during thankfully brief bouts after loud noise exposure, I feel deeply for everyone dealing with the condition

 

[stunta]

Mine is a constant tone around 8,800Hz. Sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, and always noticeable.

Curious, how do you know its at that frequency? Is there any benefit to knowing this frequency?

Mine is a high frequency piercing sound that gets worse when I am stressed.

 

[Doodski]

Curious, how do you know its at that frequency? Is there any benefit to knowing this frequency?

Mine is a high frequency piercing sound that gets worse when I am stressed.

You can compare your tinnitus with this sine wave generator. Sweep until you find a sine wave that matches your tinnitus and voila you have found the frequency.

Online Tone Generator - generate pure tones of any frequency

szynalski.com

 

[pseudoid]

I reckon..

..we are all audio passionnista here at ASR and sooner or later one of us would end up asking:
"How much reduction is he talking about?" 3dB? 6dB? 20db? ...and beyond?

 

[earlevel]

More info and waitlist:

Lenire ® - Tinnitus Treatment Using Bimodal Neuromodulation

Lenire tinnitus treatment technology combines audio and mild tongue pulses to provide clinically proven relief from tinnitus.

www.lenire.com

It combines mild electrical pulses to the tongue with sound stimulation to treat tinnitus.

I can envision such a treatment..."mild"...<cranking that voltage up>, "do you still have the tinnitus?" "No, I'm fine now! Really, really fine, no problem here! Thank you I'll be going now!"

I've had constant tones in stereo for a few years, apparently triggered from a temporary medication and never went away. It's up just over 14k though, I don't notice it at all when music's playing, fortunately.

 

[Doodski]

It combines mild electrical pulses to the tongue with sound stimulation to treat tinnitus.

I can envision such a treatment..."mild"...<cranking that voltage up>, "do you still have the tinnitus?" "No, I'm fine now! Really, really fine, no problem here! Thank you I'll be going now!"

I've had constant tones in stereo for a few years, apparently triggered from a temporary medication and never went away. It's up just over 14k though, I don't notice it at all when music's playing, fortunately.

One might get results while listening to a sine wave and using a 9 volt battery on their tongue....Hehe.

 

[pseudoid]

while listening to a sine wave and using a 9 volt battery on their tongue....

This is not to disrespect those who are afflicted w/that cursed %^&* tinnitus stuff but... can one mix that magic frequency or continuous/slow sweep a small band about that sympathetic [?] frequency and then mix it with some [of your fave] music... Voila!
For extra credit, you may wish to capacitive-couple that freq'y on the 9Vdc.
like 'having your cake and eating it too!' of sorts.
Voila; Bon Appétit!

 

[DavidMcRoy]

My experience with tinnitus corresponds with the way my physician husband says it "works": I'm certain it's always there, but I only suffer from it when I notice it.

It can be masked by other sounds, and more to the point, I often find myself ignoring it involuntarily. For example, just concentrating on another sound or just having an unrelated thought can be enough for it to seemingly disappear from my awareness of it.

Everything points to it being neurological in origin. He says that one theory is that in many cases the brain is simply trying to "fill-in" missing stimulus. As an anecdotal example of how that theory may apply, I am 66 years old and I worked in broadcast TV production for 40+ years. It's an environment that's loaded with very high frequency sound stimulus: the audible (when you're young) 15650Hz sweep frequency of NTSC video monitors, a hundred of which I might have been surrounded by all day, and the sound of reproduced audio from programming and commercials that were mixed too bright (on purpose, to complement crappy TV set speakers of the day,) etc. Fortunately for younger generations, the sweep frequency of modern video monitors is 33kHz or higher, outside the audible range. I spent all day hearing videotape audio tracks being shuttled at high speed in editing and preparation for air. The theory goes that now that I'm older and have lost some high frequency hearing, and retired and no longer exposed to high doses of those stimuli, my brain sort of "misses it" and conjures up an "imaginary" version of it. Thanks a lot. LOL! I can no longer actually hear 15750Hz, but I "experience it" all the time.

 

[Doodski]

My experience with tinnitus corresponds with the way my physician husband says it "works": I'm certain it's always there, but I only suffer from it when I notice it.

It can be masked by other sounds, and more to the point, I often find myself ignoring it involuntarily. For example, just concentrating on another sound or just having an unrelated thought can be enough for it to seemingly disappear from my awareness of it.

Everything points to it being neurological in origin. He says that one theory is that in many cases the brain is simply trying to "fill-in" missing stimulus. As an anecdotal example of how that theory may apply, I am 66 years old and I worked in broadcast TV production for 40+ years. It's an environment that's loaded with very high frequency sound stimulus: the audible (when you're young) 15650Hz sweep frequency of NTSC video monitors, a hundred of which I might have been surrounded by all day, and the sound of reproduced audio from programming and commercials that were mixed too bright (on purpose, to complement crappy TV set speakers of the day,) etc. Fortunately for younger generations, the sweep frequency of modern video monitors is 33kHz or higher, outside the audible range. The theory goes that blow that I'm holder and retired and no longer exposed to those stimuli, my brain sort of "misses it" and conjures up an "imaginary" version of it. Thanks a lot. LOL

Must be nice having a physician in the house for the knowledge base. I don't notice my tinnitus unless I focus on it except when it kicks into loud mode for 5 minutes or so and then fades out to a dull peep again.

 

[Gringoaudio1]

My experience with tinnitus corresponds with the way my physician husband says it "works": I'm certain it's always there, but I only suffer from it when I notice it.

It can be masked by other sounds, and more to the point, I often find myself ignoring it involuntarily. For example, just concentrating on another sound or just having an unrelated thought can be enough for it to seemingly disappear from my awareness of it.

Everything points to it being neurological in origin. He says that one theory is that in many cases the brain is simply trying to "fill-in" missing stimulus. As an anecdotal example of how that theory may apply, I am 66 years old and I worked in broadcast TV production for 40+ years. It's an environment that's loaded with very high frequency sound stimulus: the audible (when you're young) 15650Hz sweep frequency of NTSC video monitors, a hundred of which I might have been surrounded by all day, and the sound of reproduced audio from programming and commercials that were mixed too bright (on purpose, to complement crappy TV set speakers of the day,) etc. Fortunately for younger generations, the sweep frequency of modern video monitors is 33kHz or higher, outside the audible range. I spent all day hearing videotape audio tracks being shuttled at high speed in editing and preparation for air. The theory goes that now that I'm older annd have lost some high frequency hearing, and retired and no longer exposed to high doses of those stimuli, my brain sort of "misses it" and conjures up an "imaginary" version of it. Thanks a lot. LOL! I can no longer actually hear 15750Hz, but I "experience it" all the time.

That is so interesting. I too have tinnitus at a higher frequency than I can hear anymore. I can’t do the comparison to a frequency generator because I can’t hear up that high!

 

[Deleted member 48726]

Must be nice having a physician in the house for the knowledge base. I don't notice my tinnitus unless I focus on it except when it kicks into loud mode for 5 minutes or so and then fades out to a dull peep again.

Mine comes and goes as well. If I'm busy at work and haven't slept proper in a couple of days the tone volume is louder. So it isn't just that the small hairs have broken off or damaged. More must be at play..

 

[Doodski]

Mine comes and goes as well. If I'm busy at work and haven't slept proper in a couple of days the tone volume is louder. So it isn't just that the small hairs have broken off or damaged. More must be at play..

I think it's in the brain. Not the ear but I am no expert that's for sure...LoL.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

I think it's in the brain. Not the ear but I am no expert that's for sure...LoL.

Maybe. I haven't read up on it but by memory I think it's the small hairs inside the inner ear ( the conch shell??) that break off or get damaged. -Or is that hearing loss?

 

[Doodski]

Maybe. I haven't read up on it but by memory I think it's the small hairs inside the inner ear ( the conch shell??) that break off or get damaged. -Or is that hearing loss?

I read that that is causing hearing loss but the details had no mention of tinnitus.

 

[Adi777]

Apparently, there are hearing aids that help with tinnitus, but also improve hearing, but I don't know how effective they could be.
By the way, I'm curious how it's to hear in the hearing aid/implant. Is it a completely different hearing, and how long does it take to get used to it.

 

[Hayabusa]

I thought tinnitus is caused by an absence of signal for that frequency due to hearing loss.
The ear/brain combination has some auto gain control that is now unable to work for these frequencies.
Could be the gain is then turned up so hign we end up hearing a noise/tone for that band of the spectrum.

 

[charleski]

Clinical trial data:

Bimodal neuromodulation combining sound and tongue stimulation reduces tinnitus symptoms in a large randomized clinical study - PubMed

Tinnitus is a phantom auditory perception coded in the brain that can be bothersome or debilitating, affecting 10 to 15% of the population. Currently, there is no clinically recommended drug or device treatment for this major health condition. Animal research has revealed that sound paired with...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Different bimodal neuromodulation settings reduce tinnitus symptoms in a large randomized trial - PubMed

More than 10% of the population suffers from tinnitus, which is a phantom auditory condition that is coded within the brain. A new neuromodulation approach to treat tinnitus has emerged that combines sound with electrical stimulation of somatosensory pathways, supported by multiple animal...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Looks interesting, and not massively expensive at £2300. I’d really like to see this replicated by another group (both trials were done by the same people), but that’s unlikely for a while given the proprietary nature of the technology.

 

[sejarzo]

It's an environment that's loaded with very high frequency sound stimulus: the audible (when you're young) 15650Hz sweep frequency of NTSC video monitors...

When I was a kid, I could always tell if a TV was on in a room without even looking. More of a sensation than a distinct tone in my case.

 

[mhardy6647]

When I was a kid, I could always tell if a TV was on in a room without even looking. More of a sensation than a distinct tone in my case.

My father was a TV repair person, self employed, with his shop in our basement. I grew up with that unmistakable whine of the horzontal oscillator.
Cannot hear it any more, of course -- and, ahem, still got a couple of NTSC TVs kickin' around here (which probably goes without saying). Used to be easy (for me) to hear a TV lose horizontal sync, too.