Investigation of the Effectiveness of Sound Enrichment in the Treatment of Tinnitus Due to Hearing Loss

[Dizzyhead888]

Apologies in advance because I didn't read the study, but how/why is this any different than every other sound therapy that has been offered for the last 30 years?

I haven't read previous sound therapy studies, but the placebo in this study is remarkably well-designed.

They used narrow bands of sound frequencies that did not overlap with the patients' hearing loss or tinnitus frequencies, and the placebo group showed no improvement. In contrast, the treatment group, which received overlapping narrowband frequencies, experienced significant improvement.

Some questions remain unaddressed in the paper:

• Hearing loss between 45-55 dB was a criterion. Do people with less hearing loss, no hearing loss, hidden hearing loss, or very high-frequency hearing loss also benefit?
• The study statistics show that tinnitus frequency is tightly clustered around 6.2 kHz. Many of us have high-frequency tinnitus, so we still don't know how effective this approach is for high-frequency tinnitus.

I also read that earlier sound therapy devices were effective mainly for single-tone, low- to mid-frequency tinnitus. So, the findings of this study may not be groundbreaking for these types of tinnitus.

My tinnitus is a high-frequency noise.

Could you recommend any software (preferably simple to use) that can create a narrow band of noise around 13-16 kHz?

The options I've come across either don't cover the full spectrum of frequencies or only allow selection of a single tone frequency at a time. Others provide a noise option but without a customizable range (e.g., a continuous spectrum like 12 kHz - 14 kHz - 16 kHz).

 

[PeterPan]

but how/why is this any different than every other sound therapy that has been offered for the last 30 years?

The results are remarkable, though the eligibility criteria for participants are more restrictive than in most trials. Taken at face value, the results suggest that the treatment is highly effective.

 

[MichaelBull]

Apologies in advance because I didn't read the study, but how/why is this any different than every other sound therapy that has been offered for the last 30 years?

A good question. I wonder if the results are due to the length of time participants are exposed to the sound. In the first month, they're exposed to it for six hours a day, which is quite a lot. I'm not sure if other studies use this same duration.

I'm also curious about how long the effects last once the treatment stops. The scores at the six-month mark look fantastic, but I wonder if they stay at that level weeks or months after stopping the treatment. Even if continuous treatment were always necessary, I'd be willing to listen to the sound for a couple of hours while I work each day if it meant experiencing significantly reduced tinnitus for the rest of the day.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm considering trying out this method using a neuromodulation video I know gives me very temporary relief through residual habituation. If I do start, I'll document my experience and update this thread. I realize it's not exactly the same as the studies that use overlapping narrowband frequencies, but I'm assuming the underlying concept is similar. If the residual habituation works, it might just be a matter of replicating the treatment times outlined in the study.