Neuromonics

Why is there such a price difference?

I'm going to lay that out - along with a lot more - when I address your question on the Doctors' Corner.

But the short answer to your question is that Neuromonics is a for-profit company whose entire existence depends on income from the sale of devices. TRT is a tinnitus treatment protocol. There is no "TRT company," nor are there any investors who are concerned about TRT's bottom line. That's why you see all those ads for Neuromonics. Have you ever seen an ad for TRT?

Stephen Nagler
 
A rather offensive post was removed from this thread yesterday. The one remotely reasonable point in that otherwise mean-spirited diatribe had to do with my getting paid for teaching TRT. It's nobody's business, but I suppose several here saw the post before it was deleted. So ...

On a number of occasions over the years I have given TRT presentations to graduate students in audiology. I do receive honoraria for giving those presentations, but I return 100% of the honoraria to the scholarship funds at the universities where I teach TRT.

On four occasions I have been privileged to give presentations as part of Dr. Jastreboff's TRT course. I receive no compensation for doing so. I greatly respect the man and what he has done for tinnitus sufferers the world over. Teaching TRT along side of him is compensation enough.

End of story.

Stephen Nagler
 
SP the offending post was removed only because you complained .. Its called embarrassment..
4000 Bucks for a course of treatment that will NOT cure tinnitus..
next patient please..
 
I complained because there were aspects of your post that were not only untrue, but were offensive and libelous. There are a number of legitimate reasons to criticize TRT, but you took some cheap shots at me personally in the post that was deleted - and I am not going to get into a food fight with you or anybody else on this board. There are plenty of sites were rudeness and incivility are tolerated. This is not one of them.
 
FWIW - I have had tinnitus for 2 yrs and 4 mos. After onset I was desperate to try anything (you know the feeling). After a cursory exam by an ENT who didn't know JACK about tinnitus I stumbled upon the tinnitus clinic at University of Iowa which is about 30 miles from my home. After an hour's worth of orientation ($100) with about 10 other tinnitus victims I decided I would give Neuromonics a try. As I recall the cost was $4500.00 so I think the cost of the treatment will vary with the providers. Anyway, I completed the therapy in about 18 months. Length of time will vary too depending on your progress.

I combined Neuromonics with medications for anxiety, depression and sleep. I also went to a counselor. I can tell you I am a LOT better when I first started. Now, I cannot say it was Neuromonics alone that helped me but I can say I progressed from a basket case to a high degree of normality almost as I was before T. Don't know if I will ever get to pre-T "normality" but I'm not ready to jump off a bridge either.

I also got a lot of help from the "other" tinnitus forum as well as this one.

The U of I Tinnitus Clinic DOES NOT offer TRT.
 
I combined Neuromonics with medications for anxiety, depression and sleep. I also went to a counselor. I can tell you I am a LOT better when I first started. Now, I cannot say it was Neuromonics alone that helped me but I can say I progressed from a basket case to a high degree of normality almost as I was before T.

Excellent. In the end, that's all that matters. How you got there is far far less important than that you got there!

The U of I Tinnitus Clinic DOES NOT offer TRT.

Right. They don't. Instead of offering TRT, they have come up with something they call TAT. Nobody else in the world offers TAT (Tinnitus Activities Treatment), but that's what they've decided call their own broadband sound plus tinnitus counseling program. Go figure.

Stephen Nagler
 
FWIW - I have had tinnitus for 2 yrs and 4 mos. After onset I was desperate to try anything (you know the feeling). After a cursory exam by an ENT who didn't know JACK about tinnitus I stumbled upon the tinnitus clinic at University of Iowa which is about 30 miles from my home. After an hour's worth of orientation ($100) with about 10 other tinnitus victims I decided I would give Neuromonics a try. As I recall the cost was $4500.00 so I think the cost of the treatment will vary with the providers. Anyway, I completed the therapy in about 18 months. Length of time will vary too depending on your progress.

I combined Neuromonics with medications for anxiety, depression and sleep. I also went to a counselor. I can tell you I am a LOT better when I first started. Now, I cannot say it was Neuromonics alone that helped me but I can say I progressed from a basket case to a high degree of normality almost as I was before T. Don't know if I will ever get to pre-T "normality" but I'm not ready to jump off a bridge either.

I also got a lot of help from the "other" tinnitus forum as well as this one.

The U of I Tinnitus Clinic DOES NOT offer TRT.


I did the same thing and totally agree with you. We hope there will be a cure, but as I recall, when I started to lose my hair some 30 years ago, there was a CURE only 5 years away. Well now its a dead issue to me because I don't care, I guess I habituated to my hair loss..:)... but there are boards and forums full of people my age hoping for a cure. My point to all of this, we have to take the tools we have and deal with the T, the Dr. is sharing his experiences with us, and giving some good insight for FREE, all I can say is thanks Dr. for anything you can say to help us get by... we all have the cure, the only one for now, its takes time and many not be perfect, but until we all comes to terms with it, it will never happen, its is HABITUATION. I know and have several close friends that totally habituated to the T, from accident's and military duty. They don't even notice it unless the word is mentioned, or the actually have to find it. So I am not trying to pick a fight, or argue who's T is worse, mine is a high pitched jet engine if I allow it to be, I told it to FK OFF last year and I feel much better...:)
 
Excellent. In the end, that's all that matters. How you got there is far far less important than that you got there!



Right. They don't. Instead of offering TRT, they have come up with something they call TAT. Nobody else in the world offers TAT (Tinnitus Activities Treatment), but that's what they've decided call their own broadband sound plus tinnitus counseling program. Go figure.

Stephen Nagler
Off topic, but wanted to thank youuu for your relply regarding my question!! Made me feel better :)
 
Off topic, but wanted to thank youuu for your relply regarding my question!! Made me feel better :)

You mean your "Weddings" question on the Doctors' Corner?

You are welcome, Grace. Glad to help. Have a terrific time at your sister's wedding!!!

Stephen Nagler
 
Dear Dr. Nagler: Since we can no longer PM you or respond to posts on Doctors Corner, just wanted to say I appreciate that you still are working on a post re. Neuromonics vs. TRT. This is a very important topic, and there is a lot of confusion about these two therapies. I researched them myself, before picking one, and still am not 100 percent clear on their similarities and differences. So I am looking forward to your post. I do understand that you are busy.
 
I'll try to finish it up by Monday. Sorry it's taken a while. The piece isn't all that long, but it's requiring a good bit of thought.

@LadyDi, which one did you pick, and why did you pick it?

Stephen Nagler
 
A thoughtful piece will be a good one, @Dr. Nagler! And good things usually take time.

So the short answer to your question is that I picked Neuromonics... in part because I had hard time finding TRT clinicians that I trusted in my area (this is before you were on the board, when I could have asked you for a recommendation). One thing I hope you might address in your post is why, at least it seems to me, there seems to be shrinking numbers of TRT practitioners out there. Also, I wanted my tinnitus care to be centered at the University of Miami, as they are a research facility and have a multi-disciplinary approach to treatment. I had my first Neuromonics evaluation done at a large private ENT practice, where my former primary ENT was --but decided not to go there, as I felt there would not be enough counseling support. They also knew of no other tinnitus community resources or professionals to refer me to, which was not a good sign.

By the way: the audiologists at both this private practice and U Miami are certified in TRT, but neither clinic offers TRT therapy any longer. The answer I received is that it was too time intensive for busy people. My guess is what that really meant is that it was too time intensive for the staff.

I also chose Neuromomics because I was worried I would not tolerate TRT's white noise sound. Neuromonics wraps its signal around music, so it has been easy for me to listen to and calms me down. In terms of price: the cost was about the same here, give or take a few hundred bucks. Neither was covered by my insurance.

I am about five months into Neuromonics and it has helped. Of course, I will never know how much of that is the NTT, the tincture of time (as you call it) or the CBT I have done on my own. Maybe its a mix of the three. At any rate, I am a heck of a lot better than I was five months ago. My life is not the same as it was pre-tinnitus, but its just as good -- maybe even better, as I appreciate my friends and family, my health, my husband and my generally happy existence so much more.

Oops, sorry the long reply. Look forward to your post. Also would be interesting to hear from others at TT re. their Neuromonics/TRT choice.
 
By the way: the audiologists at both this private practice and U Miami are certified in TRT, but neither clinic offers TRT therapy any longer. The answer I received is that it was too time intensive for busy people. My guess is what that really meant is that it was too time intensive for the staff.

Do you mean you guess they no longer do TRT because there's more money in Neuromonics?

Stephen Nagler
 
Do you mean you guess they no longer do TRT because there's more money in Neuromonics?

That's my hunch, yes. If TRT patients require more time and attention, staff costs will be more. Profit margins will be less. But I have utterly nothing to prove this, so I don't want to imply it is a fact. Its only my guess.
 
If TRT patients require more time and attention, staff costs will be more.

Makes sense. Thank you for your response.

So you are now five months into Neuromonics. In those five months, how many hours total would you guess you have spent with your audiologist, including the time devoted to general questions about tinnitus, your audiological testing, explanation of the Neuromonics program, instruction in using the Oasis device, counseling/education, checking the device, monitoring your progress, follow-up regarding any questions that might come up, follow-up counseling, etc. The whole package. Approximately how many hours total over five months?

Stephen Nagler
 
Good question, @Dr Nagler. Let me do some rough calculations and get back with you this weekend.
Great. I'll do the same for TRT. Then (admittedly in a series of 1) we'll be able to compare the amount of staff time required for each!

Stephen Nagler
 
@LadyDi -

Please see Posts #27, 28. I'm very interested in your response when you have a chance to add it all up.

Thanks -

Stephen Nagler
 
Hi All -

I have just posted some thoughts on Neuromonics and TRT on the Doctors' Corner at:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/forums/dr-stephen-nagler.72/

By design the format of the Doctors' Corner does not allow for back-and-forth discussion. This particular topic is bound to be somewhat controversial, however, so if you have comments of questions, please feel free to post them below.

Stephen Nagler
 
So for help of Hyperacusis, TRT is the only option of the two?

From its inception TRT has had a sound therapy and counseling protocol for hyperacusis. Specifically, TRT Category 3 patients are those for whom hyperacusis is the either the dominant auditory problem or the exclusive auditory problem.

In terms of Neuromonics, here is what two employees of the company say about hyperacusis:

http://www.audiologyonline.com/ask-the-experts/treatment-for-tinnitus-with-hyperacusis-1304

Stephen Nagler
 
That was a very interesting to read. Thank you Dr. Nagler. I might consider TRT in the future if I don't seem to continue to habituate--although I think I am as my tinnitus seems to fade in and out when I'm engrossed. Also, on loud days I am no longer particularly bothered. I don't react like I did before. I have accepted that there is nothing 'evil' about tinnitus and that I can still live so my reaction has reduced to not caring most of the time to being slightly annoyed at times. Of course I wish I didn't have this but I'm much better. You've been a big help in that in the habituation thread I posted. Seems my CBT therapist agreed with you as he said my thought weren't distorted (you once told me that in a post)--I just needed to work through the anxiety--which we did and he said I completed my treatment plan. It was only 4 months!

Anyway, I would try TRT in say, six months time if I don't see more progress. Thanks for caring about us so much!
 
My audiologist has mentioned a program called Neuromonics which can cost as much as $5000 for the full treatment. Before considering spending this sort of money I would really like to know if it has helped anyone.


My audiologist sugested the same and actually for 2500$ for the device and treatment which I still find it ridiculous for a mp3 player and keep in mind that what it does its that helps you to get habituated or not bothered from T but its not a cure.I think somehow with time we all are going to get habituated with the mp3 player or not.
 
Anyone know if Neuromonic Tinnitus treatment device works to cure Tinnitus noise?
Has anyone tried this?

 

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