Acoustic CR® Neuromodulation: Do It Yourself Guide

[1MW]

Auditory system is hardwired. Does not reprogrammed easily .
The tonotopic organization happens up to 5 years old.
Some reprograming can happen later but has time frame 10 years.
These has been observed from cohlear implant experiments.

 

[Steve]

Auditory system is hardwired. Does not reprogrammed easily .
The tonotopic organization happens up to 5 years old.
Some reprograming can happen later but has time frame 10 years.
These has been observed from cohlear implant experiments.

If you can link to some sources to prove your statements I will be happy to review them, if I'm honest I really don't understand what you are saying here. There are plenty of studies on brain plasticity, are you suggesting that it is proven impossible after the age of 15?

You can view tinnitus as a reprogramming of the auditory system, a phantom noise which is generally in the place of normal stimulation (hearing loss patients). The cochlea is "hard wired" but the brain has to perceive the input and it is definitely not a hard wired system, it adapts continuously.

This is slightly off-topic but I guess it is relative to the audio therapy being discussed.

 

[mindpower]

Just a thought... if you have two distinct frequencies of tinnitus, as I do, would it be effective to do 4-6h on each frequency a day? Also, when playing the sequences, is it OK to have other audio in the background such as TV or music or would that reduce or remove the efficiency of the treatment?

 

[Anthony Hunt]

Hi Everyone,
I have just finished reading through this great thread, all 17 pages , with much enthusiasm and certainly plan to try ACRN.
My T is at 11.4KHz and have been suffering with it for just over a month. I used a a really great app on my Tablet (Keuwl Dual channel Function Generator) to find out what its frequency is. The App has a lot of great functions including White and pink noise Generation.

As an Electronics Engineer a word of caution about headphones, Don't use a cheap pair. Even if the manufacturer Claims they have a frequency Response of 20Hz to 20KHz this will never be a flat Response in other words the same volume at one frequency will be louder or softer at another frequency especially at the higher frequencies. Thats one reason why we use a graphic Equalizer when listening to Music. Another factor is while we may be feeding our headphones with a pure sine wave of say 500Hz what the headphones actually deliver will be our 500Hz plus harmonics at 1000 and 1500Hzand as well as sub-harmonics going down in frequency. There are of cause many other factors and maybe our choice of headphones has an effect on how successful the ACRN Treatment is.

 

[SoulStation]

I have to say thank you again to @generalfuzz - your app has helped me today as I am going through a rough patch in my habituation and needed some temporary relief. If anyone out the can isolate there t frequency there's a good chance this app can give you some temporary silence-relatively speaking that is.

 

[SoulStation]

I'll say it again. This literally shuts down my main 3.9 kHz tone. If I need relief it is there. I suggest anyone with tonal T try it.
The only thing is that it doesn't usually last for too long.

 

[Tibberz]

How did I not find this sooner? This makes the T sooooo much less noticeable, at least while its playing.

 

[Danny Boy]

How did I not find this sooner? This makes the T sooooo much less noticeable, at least while its playing.

Try this website

http://www.generalfuzz.net/acrn/

 

[Tibberz]

Try this website

http://www.generalfuzz.net/acrn/

Using it currently

 

[Danny Boy]

Using it currently

Great isn't it? I always used it for sleep.

 

[Tibberz]

Great isn't it? I always used it for sleep.

Yea, seems to make T quieter for me as well. I can plug my ears and its noticeably quieter for a few seconds (slowly builds up to baseline if i had plugged my ears without listening to acrn). Maybe thats a good sign this treatment will work if I try to do it long term?

 

[Danny Boy]

Yea, seems to make T quieter for me as well. I can plug my ears and its noticeably quieter for a few seconds (slowly builds up to baseline if i had plugged my ears without listening to acrn). Maybe thats a good sign this treatment will work if I try to do it long term?

Well, it's worth a go. It's good for masking anyway. There'll be a treatment within a few years, so it's not that long of a wait.

 

[ruben ruiz]

How many years. I feel for those before us who had to deal with this crap. But I come down to earth and realize were in the same situation they were. I never really drank or did a lot of drugs but I trusted my Dr. as I had anxiety from
my families estate. I ended up with T and H. Bless those who are hurting and those who care.

 

[grate_biff]

Bless those who are hurting and those who care.

Amen!

 

[Brock Sallman]

About 4.4k left. 4.8k right

 

[Uniqdzign]

Some great stuff on this thread, and especially from Steve with his hard work.

I'd like to say too, that the original posting of the four samples of Neuro Modulation downloads are working for me in their present state. I took each one in order and strung them together as a 16 minutes track.
I listen to them every day and they've helped me a lot. I've noticed not only a drop in my t, but my hearing ability has been increased. This might be expected in some cases, as I understand that it's the damage to the ear that's the cause of t. Help t, help hearing - well certainly in my case!

So anybody not having tried them, and reading this, it's very well worth giving it a try.

 

[Uniqdzign]

The ANM treatment is only for tonal tinnitus as far as I'm aware, maybe if you could get a lower and higher pitch that your tinnitus is within I could make something more noise like using a combination of tones. It would be a totally random experiment though.

Hudson Hi, - (and Steve),

I've just posted my recent and continuing experience with Neuro Modulation - above - on this thread, and I have a similar difficulty in separating a specific pitch - although I'm aware that I have a different pitch in each ear, against the level of hiss/background noise. I would suspect that those of us with a "tone/pitch" which is so near to the tone/pitch of the hiss itself - makes it more difficult to discern an actual note. (I'll add that I'm a musician and well versed in being able to place pitch - but this has proved extremely difficult.)

So just to add again that the original 4 sets of modulations found in "downloads" have helped me a lot, and who knows perhaps these subtle differences of perception, might also point to 'ideal' variations/modulation tools and how best to apply them. Cheers guys!

(Forgot to mention that for me - and perhaps Hudson? - actually listening to the specific individual tones/pitches as a single sound is very uncomfortable for me, so I much prefer the sample set.)

 

[Steve]

Some great stuff on this thread, and especially from Steve with his hard work.

I'd like to say too, that the original posting of the four samples of Neuro Modulation downloads are working for me in their present state. I took each one in order and strung them together as a 16 minutes track.
I listen to them every day and they've helped me a lot. I've noticed not only a drop in my t, but my hearing ability has been increased. This might be expected in some cases, as I understand that it's the damage to the ear that's the cause of t. Help t, help hearing - well certainly in my case!

So anybody not having tried them, and reading this, it's very well worth giving it a try.

That's pretty cool, very pleased to hear that they have helped. I'll have to try pasting them together like you did and see what that does for me.

I'd love to test these out properly and tweak them to find the most perfect combinations - even though not everybody responds to audio therapy I really do think that there is something to the neuromodulation approach if it's researched and developed further.

 

[Christian78]

That's pretty cool, very pleased to hear that they have helped. I'll have to try pasting them together like you did and see what that does for me.

I'd love to test these out properly and tweak them to find the most perfect combinations - even though not everybody responds to audio therapy I really do think that there is something to the neuromodulation approach if it's researched and developed further.

what if my right ear does not hear at all frequency of my tinnitus???

I'll say it again. This literally shuts down my main 3.9 kHz tone. If I need relief it is there. I suggest anyone with tonal T try it.
The only thing is that it doesn't usually last for too long.

if you combine it with trobalt when trobalts "hits you" and do acrn it takes 30% of tinnitus for a day

 

[Steve]

what if my right ear does not hear at all frequency of my tinnitus???

The files I made are not dependant on tinnitus frequency. It's more of a "scattergun" approach, giving frequencies up and down the audio spectrum, using musical notes so it sounds harmonic, between (roughly) 100 Hz - 10,000 HZ.

If you were to do the actual treatment it is more precisely aimed at a specific tinnitus frequency, which is when you start to think about what you hear and how you hear it. If you have tinnitus in one ear I believe you are still supposed to listen to ACRN in both ears but I can't be certain.

 

[Christian78]

The files I made are not dependant on tinnitus frequency. It's more of a "scattergun" approach, giving frequencies up and down the audio spectrum, using musical notes so it sounds harmonic, between (roughly) 100 Hz - 10,000 HZ.

If you were to do the actual treatment it is more precisely aimed at a specific tinnitus frequency, which is when you start to think about what you hear and how you hear it. If you have tinnitus in one ear I believe you are still supposed to listen to ACRN in both ears but I can't be certain.

I read it, research and they just claim over 10khz they don't work, because ACRN freq are far away

 

[Steve]

I read it, research and they just claim over 10khz they don't work, because ACRN freq are far away

Yes, that's right. To use the ACRN with the device you have to be able to hear all 4 tones it produces. I suppose that they set the upper limit on your tone as 10KHz as that is in line with most peoples hearing - top tone for this would be nearly 14KHz. In reality it depends on how high you can hear so it's a little more personal than that limit suggests.

Mine is only dependant on being able to hear all the tones in the sequence, which the majority should be able to.

 

[Christian78]

Yes, that's right. To use the ACRN with the device you have to be able to hear all 4 tones it produces. I suppose that they set the upper limit on your tone as 10KHz as that is in line with most peoples hearing - top tone for this would be nearly 14KHz. In reality it depends on how high you can hear so it's a little more personal than that limit suggests.

Mine is only dependant on being able to hear all the tones in the sequence, which the majority should be able to.

yes, that is correct, i would really like to try it, but they say person MUST hear all 4 frequencies

+ it works better with trobalt, i am sure because he faster change plasticity.

that is why when i use my high freq mix + when trobalt hit me (hight side effects moment) i get more permanent result that can last even entire day, especially if administered in morning

 

[PhilB]

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere on the forum but I am wondering what to make of this article on the BTA web site: http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/RESET2

In the UK, The Tinnitus Clinic are the exclusive providers of ACRN treatment. The Tinnitus Clinic cite a clinical trial undertaken by an organisation named NICE in Germany as the main source for their claims for the effectiveness of ACRN. The BTA is obviously more sceptical about ACRN and draws attention to a caveat issued by NICE which stated that "methodological limitations mean that results from these studies should be interpreted cautiously".

It seems safe to assume that both the BTA and the Tinnitus Clinic would have been eagerly awaiting the results of the RESET-2 Clinical Trial into ACRN which concluded in February 2014. For the Tinnitus Clinic, positive results would have bolstered their claims for the effectiveness of the treatment. Negative results would have damaged the credibility of these claims. Unfortunately, the trial results were never published. The reason given for non-publication cited "deviations from the trial protocol" which meant that "the results cannot be regarded as scientifically robust". It seems like the BTA smelt a rat and submitted a Freedom of Information request in an attempt to find out more. In response to the request, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust released the End Of Study Report. "The End of Study Report did not report a significant difference in the primary outcome measure (global Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaire scores) between the treatment group and the placebo group."

I am not sure what (if any) conclusions can be drawn from this. My guess would be that there are some within the BTA who believe ACRN to be a "smoke and mirrors" treatment. It seems clear that publication of the RESET-2 results would not have gone any way towards helping the Tinnitus Clinic to sustain their claims for ACRN. "The BTA continues to press for the full disclosure of the trial results, whatever the necessary caveats and disclaimers."

BTW, I am not trying to discourage any of the people on here who are experimenting with ACRN and who believe that it is helping them. I tried DIY ACRN and for a while I felt it was helping me although I am now of the opinion that the short-term reduction in T loudness which we get from listening to ACRN-type sounds is mainly due to residual inhibition.

 

[salemamami]

Is there any way of playing the generalfuzz ACRN page on iphone or pad. It works ok on my laptop at home but would love to have it on mobile devices I was told it only works on chrome but I don't have that on my Mac laptop or better still an IOS app would be very popular I think. Thanks

 

[andyg]

Hi steve h, do you still provide acrn mp3 files? i think my tone is around 8200

 

[Steve]

Hi steve h, do you still provide acrn mp3 files? i think my tone is around 8200

Hi Andy,

I can do but my efforts were superseded by the excellent General Fuzz app. If you go to the page you can play it directly from there and also double check your tone - http://generalfuzz.net/acrn/

 

[andyg]

oh ok, thanks anyway, i have seen that page on line but a bit unsure how to make an mp3 file from it, I will take another look

 

[Nik]

Hi Steve,

Just want to say thanks for creating the ACRN tool and putting it on github. I have tinnitus for approx. 10 years now I think and not really sure when it started, or how it started. As many on this forum I have wondered many times, how in the hell I could keep going with this unbearable high pitch in my head all the time . On really bad days I was getting by listening to a recorded waterfall sounds on youtube. I am happy to have found this forum . And now I can try out the ACRN method , thanks to you .
I am still struggling with pinpointing the exact freq. of my tinnitus , but I will give it a shot anyways and see how it goes.
Thanks.

 

[Steve]

oh ok, thanks anyway, i have seen that page on line but a bit unsure how to make an mp3 file from it, I will take another look

Ah I see what you mean. Unfortunately I don't have an easy method of recording the output, SoundFlower was my go-to tool but it doesn't seem to work for me any more. If you have a PC it's easier, see http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_recording_computer_playback_on_windows.html

Hi @Nik - the app was developed by @generalfuzz so I'm afraid I can't tale any credit. It can be difficult to find your frequency, never easy to listen back and get that slider to the exact spot, plus as the tinnitus can change pitch it's also confusing over time.