Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) for Tinnitus — Experiences (Dr. Wilden, etc.)

Hot off the press - another research study, this one from Harvard University, concluding that lasers may be an effective therapy for treating damage to the cochlea:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26790619
good catch - another one
LLLT seems like a viable, available treatment that can improve hearing loss AFTER trauma has made damage. A lot of other stuff can protect your ears better - NAC, Hydrogen etc..but few can repair damage
 
Hot off the press - another research study, this one from Harvard University, concluding that lasers may be an effective therapy for treating damage to the cochlea:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26790619
What I understand is that this is during oxidative stress. So as close as possible after noise trauma.
I hope I misunderstood this.
 
Here you are for the picture. Home lux spa laser
laser.jpg
 
thanks
what are the power settings ?
this looks like tips you put and keep inside the ears
 
just back from laser clinic in Norway, soon will write a short description about the treatment that had been done.
First of all; f.cking cold in Norway :) going from istanbul, Turkey is a wrong decision going to Oslo in January. Anne, Petter and Martin were very friendly and helpful during the last week I was there.

TREATMENT JOURNAL;

Day 1;

1 hour

808 nm / 300 mw probes inside the ear and 650 nm 120 mw back of the ear ; at the same time
1 hour
650 nm / 120 mw probes inside the ear and 808 nm 300 mw back of the ear ; at the same time
30 min
632,8 nm / 120 mw - right ear (doing laser nearly from 50 cm distance)
30 min
632,8 nm / 120 mw - left ear (doing laser nearly from 50 cm distance)
20 min
904 nm / ??? mw (probably 200) triactive neck massage treatment (in order to increase blood flow to head)
30 min
820 nm / 400 mw - right ear
30 min
820 nm / 400 mw - left ear

Day 2;

30 min

632,8 nm / 120 mw - right ear (doing laser nearly from 50 cm distance)
30 min
632,8 nm / 120 mw - left ear (doing laser nearly from 50 cm distance)
1 hour
808 nm / 380 mw - probes are inside ears (both)
1 hour
650 nm / 120 mw - probes are inside ears (both)
30 min
808 nm / 450 mw - probes are inside ears (widespread probes)
30 min
659 nm / 150 mw - probes are inside ears (widespread probes)

Day 3;

1 hour
808 nm / 380 mw probes inside the ear and 650 nm 120 mw back of the ear ; at the same time
1 hour
650 nm / 120 mw probes inside the ear and 808 nm 380 mw back of the ear ; at the same time
30 min
632,8 nm / 120 mw - right ear (doing laser nearly from 50 cm distance)
30 min
632,8 nm / 120 mw - left ear (doing laser nearly from 50 cm distance)
30 min
820 nm / 400 mw - right ear
30 min
820 nm / 400 mw - left ear

Day 4;

1 hour

632,8 nm / 120 mw - right ear (doing laser nearly from 50 cm distance)
1 hour
632,8 nm / 120 mw - left ear (doing laser nearly from 50 cm distance)
1 hour
808 nm / 380 mw - probes are inside ears (both)
1 hour
650 nm / 120 mw - probes are inside ears (both)

Day 5;

1 hour

808 nm / 380 mw - probes are inside ears (both)
1 hour
650 nm / 120 mw - probes are inside ears (both)
1 hour
632,8 nm / 120 mw - right ear (doing laser nearly from 50 cm distance)
1 hour
632,8 nm / 120 mw - left ear (doing laser nearly from 50 cm distance)
40 min
904 nm / ??? mw (probably 200) triactive neck massage treatment (in order to increase blood flow to head)

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To those who are suspicious about wheter the laser light penetrate the skull or not;

Yes!
Definitely it reaches the inner ear. First day my treatment had started with 808 nm and 400 mw (inside) and 650 nm 120 mw (back). In a few minutes severe vertigo had started and I called Anne. Power was reduced to 300 mw and vertigo had disappeared in one or two seconds. After that my experimental instict had arised :) and started to change the directions of probes (inside) and at a spesific position vertigo started. I moved them at the former position and vertigo disappeared. Repeated this twice and the same results occurred. So; this is an exact reference to discussions about the penetration of laser light to cochlea and semicircular canals.

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I have tinnitus for one year. Mild hearing loss at low frequencies. Moderate hearing losses at all high frequencies. Constant, high pitched, severe tinnitus. I hear it even in noisy situations (like driving etc. ). My priority is to gain some hearing especially at low frequencies.

Results:

Had an audiogram 1 day before going to lllt. After returning home, I didn't manage to get an audiogram yet but I am really sure hearing loss has treated, even a little bit I have been feeling it. For tinnitus; during the sessions and after treatment for 3 days tinnitus spike. And a little bir fullness (pressure) feeling at the left ear. Actually my expectations is like that from the past people that had tried lllt. Tinnitus pitch shifted to very high frequencies, I know this is a good thing in general but it reaaly drives me crazy. Even to this temporary spike I am reaaly happy about the result in hearing loss and shifting of the tinnitus to higher frequencies.

( I am really sorry about the grammatical mistakes :banghead: )





 
Awesome that you has progress....personally , T at very high freq is not something I would be after , my T was lower freq in the beginning and is now super high ...pretty horrible, unmaskable , and goes to your brain .
 
Had an audiogram 1 day before going to lllt. After returning home, I didn't manage to get an audiogram yet but I am really sure hearing loss has treated, even a little bit I have been feeling it.

Yes:) From Istanbul to Norway in winter must be quite a difference.
Very interested in the audiograms. Did you suffer from hyperacusis? I would be interested if I could improve my hyperacusis.
Ho do you get hearing loss in the low frequencies? Probably not noise induced. Inflammation or something similar?
 
I haven't hearing loss, any one know if this LLLT reduce my T volume ?
No it won't
It's not a tinnitus cure - it does help with ear cell healing provided those are still in a shape that can be healed - not totally destroyed ! and nerve regeneration , which may improve hearing over time (months or years ) so if you don't have any of those two issues - due to recent accoustic trauma - then it will not do anything besides wasting you time and money .
 
I would LOVE to see concrete proof of any improvement in hearing from LLLT.
With all the people here that have done this , this should be possible.
I would go immediately for this treatment if I got as much as a 10% better hearing.
 
Some people posted improved audio grams so the proof is already there
But not everyone is a good candidate - 10% improvement sounds realistic especially if you are committed to a few months of follow up treatment at home

Healing takes time - even by using lasers 10 times more powerful for many hours per day during one week only isn't going to make your ear heal 10 times faster - it may kick start the process better and instead of getting improvements after 6 months on a home unit only ,you may get them in 3 for example

Lasers aren't healing the ears - they are only helping the body heal itself better
 
I've been following this thread with some interest and have noted the improvements in audiograms - some of which show seemingly significant improvements at least at some frequencies.

well within the margin of error

However, as noted by RaZaH there is a margin of error. When I have talked to audiologists after hearing tests, they talk about test-retest variability of plus or minus 5 dB and of differences in levels across tests needing to be greater than 15 dB to be "clinically significant".

For the folks who have posted audiograms, I'm also curious as to whether the hearing tests were conducted by the people who did the treatment or by someone independent. Whether conscious or not, if the people doing the treatment also do the tests, I worry about possibility for biased test results.
 
I am also pretty sure that if you do two tests in a row you will do better in the second one, simply because you know what to expect in a test like this . Very unreliable test.
 
I will post my audio gram in 6 months but clearly I can hear better and H has gone away so that's well worth the price I payed for the unit.
Cannot speak for others but Fernando showed us his AG and it's clearly better
My t is also weaker now - higher frequency , less of a strong hissing sound and easier to put in the background more often than the crazy loud hiss I had before
Not a cure but a decent improvement

Also , and that's very important , I protect my ears from sound above 65 db all the time

Not sure if you do this yourself
 
Audio grams don't work well for accoustic trauma becuase they only test a few frequencies - and they draw a straight line in between but it's not straight in Reality, it's more like a saw tooth profile with small dents all over the place.
For example i know i have a dip at 3852 HZ on my left ear and one at 4790 on my right Ear but at exactly 4000 hz both ears are within 20db
I have a lot of those small dips that's why I hear a hiss not one single tone

In the AG they only test by increments of 2000hz

I think it's better to listen to low volume frequency sweeps and pay attention on how the dips in Db evolve over time
 
I am not doubting you personally :) Just would love to see proof before I go for it.
It's ok to doubt - but more importantly are you protecting your ears from noise above 65 Db ?
 
Did you suffer from hyperacusis? I would be interested if I could improve my hyperacusis.
Ho do you get hearing loss in the low frequencies? Probably not noise induced. Inflammation or something similar?

Yes and no. But I have only two days experience in hyperacusis.In very first days of my tinnitus progress, I had it. Then it went off by itself. So ı had no hyperacusis during the laser treatment.

I don't know how I get my hearing loss. It is said to be noise induced. Because I am not a clubbier, not a concert fan etc. etc. I even hate wedding ceremonies as traditional turkish weddings are so noisy. (since my childhood, not from tinnitus). So no mental explanations or logical expressions can be done to my noise induced hearing loss. ENTs are so useless in describing my situation ( as they are useless in many times :) )
 
Yes, that is one person . There seem to be quite a number of people doing this , I would love to see more audiograms.
I am just saying, as you can imagine , if the audiograms were piling in and everyone seemed to have improvement , now that would be proof.
 
The laser from Dr.Wilden seems way overprice, 2600 euros is insane for a controller and 2 diodes , replacement diodes are 1800 euro . I have trust issues with small pieces of gear with a large pricetag like these mp3 players with a masking trak for thousands of dollars.

I am seriously looking at this stuff, crazy prices though.

Also, reading this does not inspire confidence
http://www.lux-spa-ibiza.com/index.php/en/warum-home-therapy
 
@RaZaH

Check out the Konftec emLas-520B. The build quality looks only so-so, it probably will not last too long before something breaks. But the specs (808 nm wavelength and 90 mW power) and design (fits in your ear) are good for inner ear laser therapy. And they also provide protocols for minutes per day and number of days in a row. Price is really good at US$ 530. And you can order online and pay with a credit card.

http://www.konftec.com/order/HTML/order-ht-tinnitus.htm

Elsewhere on this thread it has been reported that the Konftec lasers do not last more than a year - and I would believe that just by looking at the photos, they seem a bit fragile. But they have a three month money back guarantee - if LLLT does not help your tinnitus by three months in, they say they will take the product back for a refund.

The 90 mW is not as powerful as the Lucky Laser (which looks like great build quality and would last a long time). But that just means you have to use it more minutes per day (say 30 or 40 instead of 8 to 10) to get the same amount of joules. The 808 nm wavelength determines how many centimeters deep it goes.
 

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