I Invented a Sound That Knocked Out My Tinnitus

[linearb]

Sign me up.

Just like every other stupid fuckin thing you could imagine, there are a group of people who claim that drilling a hole in your head leads to spiritual enlightenment because of "increased oxygenation of the brain". Why every patient with an open cranial fracture doesn't come out of their hospital stay enlightened doesn't seem to occur to them.

https://www.theblot.com/trepanation-a-hole-in-the-head-or-a-door-to-enlightenment/

This is relevant since it's probably as science based as most of the ideas here.

 

[R. David Case]

Why exactly are you attacking this guy?

He already made it clear he is not in it for financial gain, as his file is free to download for anyone.

The theory about suppressing tinnitus by those sounds is about as good as any other theory, since there is not a single person on this planet who has all the pieces of this puzzle.

He's not attacking anyone himself and it sounds like he is trying to genuinely help people.

Yes I am astounded how people try to make me out as a scammer, all I do every day is try to help people stop their torture. All letters are real, I don't have to fake anything because Tinnitus Mix WORKS.

 

[Harley]

"the theories of this person who exhibits obvious signs of, politely, magical thinking are just as good as the theories of career neurologists who have spent decades studying tinnitus"

Are you actually saying that? We have a lot more pieces than you seem to be owing up to

Look... whether this is a blind squirrel getting a nut type of a situation or whether this is genius at work could be debated till no end, but the fact remains that due to extremely erratic and unpredictable nature of tinnitus, one could only speculate that it is far more likely there will be more than one way to fix it.

The other fact remains, that there are other people on other tinnitus groups who seem to have benefited from this sound (unless of course you think he has made the whole thing up, along with all the names, thank you letters and posts).

In my opinion, faking something like that would be a lot of work and it is very unlikely.

My personal take on this is, that there is some form of a residual inhibition at play here, that stimulates a broad range across the hearing spectrum, possibly similar to the ACRN idea, but better or more aggressive, as the effects are reported to last longer.

Just because someone is not following some sort of a scientific protocol does not neccesarily translate into fraud or quackery.

I'm pretty sure human history is full of inventions that weren't discovered by scientists, but rather ordinary people whom were able to think outside the box.

Therefore I find your attempts at ridicule rather misplaced.

 

[R. David Case]

Look... whether this is a blind squirrel getting a nut type of a situation or whether this is genius at work could be debated till no end, but the fact remains that due to extremely erratic and unpredictable nature of tinnitus, one could only speculate that it is far more likely there will be more than one way to fix it.

The other fact remains, that there are other people on other tinnitus groups who seem to have benefited from this sound (unless of course you think he has made the whole thing up, along with all the names, thank you letters and posts).

In my opinion, faking something like that would be a lot of work and it is very unlikely.

My personal take on this is, that there is some form of a residual inhibition at play here, that stimulates a broad range across the hearing spectrum, possibly similar to the ACRN idea, but better or more aggressive, as the effects are reported to last longer.

Just because someone is not following some sort of a scientific protocol does not neccesarily translate into fraud or quackery.

I'm pretty sure human history is full of inventions that weren't discovered by scientists, but rather ordinary people whom were able to think outside the box.

Therefore I find your attempts at ridicule rather misplaced.

Thank you!! Yes many inventions were accidents and turned out to be extremely important and changed the world!!!

 

[R. David Case]

So, I downloaded Tinnitus Mix and have been listening at low volume via computer speakers just out of interest. It's horrific sounding, but I noticed some interesting effects. Even though I'm not following the directions, after a short while it changed the tonality and characteristics of my tinnitus. It became less intense / less bothersome than it's been since a recent set back last week. It stopped being reactive too. I've never experienced residual inhibition either, by the way, so not sure if it is due to that.

If anyone listens to this via headphones as instructed by David, they'd better be very careful to do so at super low volume. I don't think I could bring myself to. Well, maybe if there were a lot of success stories that I felt sure were definitely credible, or research to back it up. Honestly, it sounds like it should be the opposite to what a tinnitus sufferer should listen to. I don't know if I could ever bring myself to do it as directed. I just wouldn't ever go to sleep listening to something via headphones, ever.

It's either something really good, or the worst kind of practical joke. I don't know.

All of you should just stop saying these things.

 

[linearb]

The other fact remains, that there are other people on other tinnitus groups who seem to have benefited from this sound (unless of course you think he has made the whole thing up, along with all the names, thank you letters and posts).
...
In my opinion, faking something like that would be a lot of work and it is very unlikely.
...

Nowhere did I say he was faking it; I think he believes everything he says.

There are people on tinnitus groups who "seem" to have benefitted from all sorts of utter nonsense including things that clearly have no basis in objective reality, like magic crystals, remote prayer, etc. This is why self-reported anecdotes are useless for demonstrating whether or not something has any effect. Beyond that it's pretty well documented that noise exposure of various kinds can have all sorts of temporary effects on tinnitus. Efforts to clinically leverage residual inhibition for any kind of lasting treatment have all failed.

I will continue to ridicule it when I see people trying to pass magical thinking off as anything resembling science or innovation. You are free to disagree, ridicule me in return, buy a surly cat from an elderly neighbor... really, the world is your oyster.

whether this is a blind squirrel getting a nut type of a situation or whether this is genius at work could be debated till no end

Both of these scenarios seem to assume that this therapy actually does something that listening to equivalent times and volumes of white noise with randomized fractal tones over it would not.

I see no evidence of that.

 

[Rockrose]

I was beginning to feel discouraged with only a modest improvement in the ringing after listening to the sounds for about 3 weeks now. This morning when I first got up I had to look hard for the ringing. That lasted only for a few minutes. The ringing did return and for a few hours it was very much subdued. My tinnitus has consistently been intrusive upon waking, so this is a positive sign. I'm going to continue with the program and see what happens.

 

[Phat Tuna]

I am on Tinnitus Mix Facebook group, and based on the posts/comments I doubt the success rate is as high as 50%, though there are people who have benefited from it.

It's definitely not 50%. I believe it made my tinnitus 10x worse. I posted my experience and asked for advice on the FB group and I was immediately banned/deleted from the group. This tells me there are probably many others with similar experiences as me who were also banned from the group and whose voices were never heard. Had I known this was a possible outcome, I would have never subjected my ears to such hideous sounds.

 

[R. David Case]

Could be a coincidence, but I listened to this therapy once for 3 hours while in bed at lowest audible volume using the suggested Koss headphones and in the days following I developed hyperacusis, new reactive tinnitus tones, and dysacusis. And one of my new tones is shockingly similar in tone and timbre to one of the sounds in the tape.

I asked a question in his Facebook group for advice/help after it happened and I was immediately banned/deleted from the group.

In my personal experience, I would not recommend this treatment to anyone.

NOT QUITE, you joined the group saying you HAD hyperacusis and other issues, I guess you forgot that post and then you try to post that my therapy caused your hyperacusis!!! You need to be truthful, this is not a place for your entertainment!!!

 

[Barbara777]

Is @Phat Tuna a liar?

@JohnAdams would you recommend this sound therapy to someone struggling?

 

[JohnAdams]

Is @Phat Tuna a liar?

@JohnAdams would you recommend this sound therapy to someone struggling?

I think it is certainly worth a try. I don't think it has permanently worsened anyone. Just don't get your hopes up.

 

[Tybs]

NOT QUITE, you joined the group saying you HAD hyperacusis and other issues, I guess you forgot that post and then you try to post that my therapy caused your hyperacusis!!! You need to be truthful, this is not a place for your entertainment!!!

No need to immediately start accusing him, it could just as well be a misinterpretation of his post(s)... appreciated if you let people explain themselves. Not trying to pick sides here, I just doubt Phat Tuna is making fun of tinnitus here, such a comment can be quite harsh for a sufferer. We hear enough like that from the "professionals" already.

@Phat Tuna, could you clarify the exact situation?

 

[Harley]

Beyond that it's pretty well documented that noise exposure of various kinds can have all sorts of temporary effects on tinnitus. Efforts to clinically leverage residual inhibition for any kind of lasting treatment have all failed.

As far as I know, Mr Case did acknowledge that maintenance sessions are required couple times a week after the initial month in order to keep tinnitus from coming back.
So the effect is definitely temporary.

But here is the thing:
If this particular sound is able to keep tinnitus at bay for so many people, why all the hostility on your part?

It could well be, that this sound really is superior at suppressing tinnitus from all the other sounds out there.

Instead of being happy that some people have indeed found Tinnitus Mix to be helping them better than any other forms of available therapy they tried to date (most of it not free), you chose to attack Mr Case instead.
This is what I have problem with.

Speaking for myself, if I could achieve silence, while having to do some kind of a maintenance sessions here and there, I would consider myself cured.

Bimodal stimulation will also very likely be a form of suppression with maintenance sessions required, yet people are quite excited about it.

So if the final effect is essentially the same, why embrace one and attack the other for not being "lasting" (as you put it).

 

[JohnAdams]

Bimodal stimulation will also very likely be a form of suppression with maintenance sessions required, yet people are quite excited about it.

Because people are stupid.

 

[linearb]

If this particular sound is able to keep tinnitus at bay for so many people...

Bimodal stimulation will also very likely be a form of suppression...

I stand by my statement that there' no reason to think this "keeps tinnitus at bay" or functions any better than broadband white noise paired with random fractal tones; additionally, I have enumerated lots of things like magic crystals and homeopathy which are clearly nonsense, which similarly have lots of passionate testimonials about how they were "the thing that turned the corner on my tinnitus!" or whatever, in the Alternative forum here, or elsewhere online.

Secondly, in this post here you're trying to make a direct comparison between the "therapy" in this thread, and a legitimate institution-backed research effort. That is like comparing a bicycle someone built from parts in their garage to a Tesla. It's just a ludicrous idea, and to the extent you're reading strong emotion from me it's spawned from incredulity about the extent of that ludicrousness and the length of time it has gone on.

I will also note that Mr. Case, on this page is strongly and without evidence attacking someone who claims to have had a negative reaction to his sounds; this strikes me as sort of silly. Anything that can modulate the tinnitus signal is bound to be able to push it in both directions, everyone is different, every existing audio therapy has a nonzero "discontinued because of reported worsening" group.

Am I supposed to believe this is a magical technology which can only push things in a positive direction? There's not much like it in the medical world, in that case. Likewise, all of the people I've spoken with involved in bimodal research have cautioned that incorrect timings or individual variations could cause a worsening effect.

As for why I personally haven't bothered to try this; he's likewise discounted people for not using the specific headphones he wants you to use; I already own ~4 sets of $100+ headphones and I am not about to buy another pair.

 

[Phat Tuna]

Is @Phat Tuna a liar?

I have no reason to lie. My hyperacusis did not start until after using this sound therapy.

How would he even know my name on Facebook? Also, I don't blame anyone but myself. Nobody forced me to subject my ears to these sounds for 3 hours. And like I said, it could be a coincidence. But being immediately banned from the group and being left out to dry did not give me much confidence in the treatment, so I stand by my statement that I cannot recommend it to anyone.

 

[JohnAdams]

Well after like 26(?) nights of this, my floaters are pretty much gone, my hyperacusis is gone, but today my tinnitus is actually like it was months ago, which is worse. I think I am going to stop this. Before I even started this, I felt like my tinnitus was almost completely gone, I was afraid it would come back, and it has.

 

[Fifth Business]

Can we confirm rumors that the Tinnitus ReMix2020 is going to drop next month?

 

[Bndsmheowqhe]

That is like comparing a bicycle someone built from parts in their garage to a Tesla.

It would be as unlikely as someone building a computer from parts in their garage and turning that into a multibillion dollar corporation that directly competes with IBM.

https://www.scoopwhoop.com/10-biggest-companies-in-the-world-that-started-from-a-garage/

 

[Leon909]

Here's a quick note on those who plan to edit the WAV file: Sunday 9 days ago I edited the Tinnitus Mix in Audacity and saved it as mp3. Next my tinnitus became way worse on the very high tones. I continued for three days and it was still really bad.

On Wednesday night I realized that MP3 cuts off all tones at about 15kHz.

I then switched back to the WAV file and edited it so that it would emphasize the high frequencies. My tinnitus then got better again.

 

[linearb]

It would be as unlikely as someone building a computer from parts in their garage and turning that into a multibillion dollar corporation that directly competes with IBM.

https://www.scoopwhoop.com/10-biggest-companies-in-the-world-that-started-from-a-garage/

I'm going to go with "substantially more unlikely than that" for reasons already enumerated.

 

[Harley]

I stand by my statement that there' no reason to think this "keeps tinnitus at bay" or functions any better than broadband white noise paired with random fractal tones; additionally, I have enumerated lots of things like magic crystals and homeopathy which are clearly nonsense, which similarly have lots of passionate testimonials about how they were "the thing that turned the corner on my tinnitus!" or whatever, in the Alternative forum here, or elsewhere online.

How would you know if it works any better or worse, than a broadband noise?
Have you done any studies on this?
This noise is very unique in its randomness as it keeps changing.
Maybe that is the key.

The fact remains that there are over 500 people out there whom I'm pretty sure tried all kinds of sound therapies and most of whom are probably not idiots, but for some reason this specific sound helped them.
And no I didn't read any posts from Mr. Case about the power magic crystals either, so I'm not sure why you keep bringing it up.

Secondly, in this post here you're trying to make a direct comparison between the "therapy" in this thread, and a legitimate institution-backed research effort. That is like comparing a bicycle someone built from parts in their garage to a Tesla. It's just a ludicrous idea, and to the extent you're reading strong emotion from me it's spawned from incredulity about the extent of that ludicrousness and the length of time it has gone on.

If I exploit your analogy further, there is no Tesla, as we have no cure for tinnitus.
I'm comparing efforts at someone building a bicycle in their garage against the efforts of someone trying to build a Tesla.
The truth is, that while Susan Shore is probably the most qualified person on this planet when it comes to tinnitus, she still probably has less then 20% of the pieces to this puzzle.

Also speaking of Tesla (the person), in his days he was considered to be an eccentric whack job... it was only much, much later when people had recognized his genius.

I will also note that Mr. Case, on this page is strongly and without evidence attacking someone who claims to have had a negative reaction to his sounds; this strikes me as sort of silly. Anything that can modulate the tinnitus signal is bound to be able to push it in both directions, everyone is different, every existing audio therapy has a nonzero "discontinued because of reported worsening" group.

I did not witness this "strong" attack you speak off so I cannot comment on it, but I'm witnessing all kinds of attacks towards Mr. Case.
He surely has the right to defend himself.

Am I supposed to believe this is a magical technology which can only push things in a positive direction? There's not much like it in the medical world, in that case. Likewise, all of the people I've spoken with involved in bimodal research have cautioned that incorrect timings or individual variations could cause a worsening effect.

Nobody claims anything about this being "magical".
It is you whom for whatever reason seem to insist on using this word.
Also, there is no electrical stimulation involved in Tinnitus Mix, so while the caution against incorrect timing is valid, it does not apply here.

As for why I personally haven't bothered to try this; he's likewise discounted people for not using the specific headphones he wants you to use; I already own ~4 sets of $100+ headphones and I am not about to buy another pair.

The issue is not price tag here, but rather the specific parameters of the said headphones.
I admit my ignorance on this issue, but I'm going on assumption that a guy who has a degree in this field knows what he is talking about.

 

[MRItechssuck]

Free sound file, and freedom of choice. There was never any data saying this was effective, other than anecdotal reports. Why shouldn't people be as cautious about this as they are of any "therapy."

Do your research, and then Caveat Emptor. If there was ever any placebo affect, that is now soiled by the critics.

And there is nothing wrong with being critical, however there is no benefit to continue to harp on Mr. Case.
Make your points and move on, otherwise it seems like it's harassment, IMO.

That being said... having a select Tinnitus Mix club to be a member of... seems weird... are there discount coupons? Lol

It's a sound file... it's a sound file... it's a sound file...

 

[Gman]

All of you should just stop saying these things.

View attachment 33621

It's interesting that you took my post as negative. It's wasn't my intention when I was writing it. I wasn't attacking you at all. So I apologise if it came across like that. I said my initial observation was that it did something to my tinnitus.

But I wouldn't blindly follow anyone that I don't know over the internet. A healthy amount of skepticism, wariness and distrust is going to help me to survive. Hell, it's trusting people and things that have put me in this dire situation and I'm mostly talking about medical products and professionals.

Your groundbreaking news jpg does not do anything to increase my trust, by the way. It kind of does the opposite, because there's no context, it's badly written and compressed, plus it is something anyone could throw together. Whatever I do, I'm going to do very carefully and proceed with caution. Otherwise, I'm dead. Get it? I would be the same way with things like Lenire too.

If you want to quash any comments you do no want, perhaps you could ask the Tinnitus Talk moderators to switch off comments like they do with Dr Nagler's Doctors' Corner.

I am willing to keep an open mind though.

 

[JohnAdams]

Here's a quick note on those who plan to edit the WAV file: Sunday 9 days ago I edited the Tinnitus Mix in Audacity and saved it as mp3. Next my tinnitus became way worse on the very high tones. I continued for three days and it was still really bad.

On Wednesday night I realized that MP3 cuts off all tones at about 15kHz.

I then switched back to the WAV file and edited it so that it would emphasize the high frequencies. My tinnitus then got better again.

VERY INTERESTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was wondering about the very same thing happening!

 

[cjbhab]

I feel like I'm going to pass on this for now.

I need a doctor to say " hey, here is this treatment, it is going to work, here is why it is going to work, here is the protocol"

 

[rei]

All I know is that I'm now in possession of Koss KTX PRO1 headphones and I'm not sure if I should open the box. At this point sleep has been difficult enough.

 

[Jan64]

I am 6 days in, bought the Koss headphones without headband, and already had some benefits. I am monitoring my loudness carefully and I experience the loudness about 20% less...

I am grateful for the good work of David Case!

Thank you!!

 

[R. David Case]

Here's a quick note on those who plan to edit the WAV file: Sunday 9 days ago I edited the Tinnitus Mix in Audacity and saved it as mp3. Next my tinnitus became way worse on the very high tones. I continued for three days and it was still really bad.

On Wednesday night I realized that MP3 cuts off all tones at about 15kHz.

I then switched back to the WAV file and edited it so that it would emphasize the high frequencies. My tinnitus then got better again.

YES you are right!! You must keep the Tinnitus Mix in high quality WAV uncompressed format!! If you use the wrong headphones it will also affect the frequency range output and may not work. That's why after 18 years of getting testimony letters I have figured out the proper instructions.

 

[R. David Case]

All I know is that I'm now in possession of Koss KTX PRO1 headphones and I'm not sure if I should open the box. At this point sleep has been difficult enough.

Well the choice is yours, it has helped hundreds around the world. All I can do is offer help.