Notched Music Therapy (DIY, AudioNotch, etc.)

[linearb]

yes, I believe you need to be able to hear on both sides of the notch. But the science on this isn't exactly amazing, so I'd say try it and see what happens.

 

[bellafjelle]

I have actually been experimenting a lot with this, but i've been unsure of how important it is to be able to hear the end of the notch.

At Audionotch.com it says something about what is allowed for the therapy to work:

"Maximum hearing loss ranged from 10 - 100 dB, with an average max hearing loss of 55 dB"

I don't know what this implies. Does that mean you amplify the frequencies where you have some hearing loss?

 

[GregCA]

A person has a tinnitus frequency at 13000 hz. He makes a notch between 12000 and 14000 hz.

That would already be an "unusual" notching window: none of the studies I've read use fixed sized windows in Hertz - they all deal with octave units. In your example, the notch is extremely "thin".

Do this person have to be able to hear the frequencies at the end of the notch for the therapy to work?

It is probably better to be able to hear frequencies at the end of the notch filter, given the principles of notch therapy, but I doubt you will find much music that has a lot of energy in the 14+ kHz range, especially if you are compressing your music with a lossy codec, as it generally applies a low pass filter to your music before the actual compression phase kicks in.

 

[Barry33]

I found that AudioNotch app. It's pretty crazy how it works in when it matches my T frequency it sort of just cancels out the ringing? Is that what it's supposed to do? So do you just listen to it when you need to like therapy? Like during a spike? I dont want to use it incorrectly and make anything worse.


Thanks

 

[Patrickgpiper]

I am interested in the experiences of any who have used Audio Notch Therapy to treat their tinnitus.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2824261/

Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[dnl]

There's a notched white noise album on Apple Music (it's probably on other music services as well). I can't vouch for the product or how they create the files, but if you want to try notched sound therapy, and you subscribe to a music service, this might be a good way to try it. You'd have to find your frequency, and then choose the appropriate file. The 2 albums contain notched white noise files from 100 Hertz - 20,000 Hertz going up by increments of 100 (100 'sound files' on each album).

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/notch-white-noise-tinnitus-therapy-vol-1/1154206428

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/notch-white-noise-tinnitus-therapy-vol-2/1154730692

 

[Fabrice]

Hi
I have T since the last 7 weeks high pitch single tone (11000Hz) and continuous. I realised that when exposed to noise such as inside a stadium my T disappeared for a good 4 h following the event. So i informed on this and discovered the principle of residual inhibition. I then found Audionotch website and this morning tried it for 1 minute. My head just reacted the same way as during a basket ball game and i felt better all day long !!! Maybe it is explained by the nature of my T but it looks to work. I now need to investigate how long i can plug this in my ears. Anyone having a similar reaction ?? I am unsure what is their sound therapy offer. I guess a selected music with the T frequency in the back ? How long this needs to be listened ?

 

[GregCA]

Anyone having a similar reaction ?? I am unsure what is their sound therapy offer. I guess a selected music with the T frequency in the back ?

No. Notched therapy is music with the T frequency (and its surroundings) removed from the music. It's the opposite from what you're thinking.

 

[Erica343]

I'm wondering if this program has been of any help to anyone here, particularly with getting to sleep comfortably. I can't seem to find a sample of a therapy on the website. Does it just replay the frequency chosen or create some other sound therapy?

https://www.audionotch.com/app/tune/

 

[Ambassador]

If you can identify your frequency there are a lot of sound files on the internet that you can use for free, they can be of some help but I don't think they are much better than white noise. If you really want to try something look at the Widex Zen app. I've been using it for about 2 weeks now and I like it a lot, it's free and runs on iPhone or Android.

 

[threefirefour]

I'm trying ACRN. I will give updates later

 

[Erica343]

I will check them both out. I've been playing like 3 different things simultaneously using QuickPlayer. A soft white noise which sounds like an ocean, crickets, and a this relaxing sleep music. I have it on such a low volume but the noise in my ears seem to be louder when I wake up in the morning. Not sure why because I don't have noise induced tinnitus.

 

[Wolfears]

Can I use the notch therapy as a masking for sleep?

 

[Erica343]

Definitely. I think it's a lifesaver. I also think it's important to mention that YouTube has a lot of good white noise videos like rainstorms, fan noises, bathtub filling up, etc. The AudioNotch is nice because you can customize your own white noise or sound effect to match the frequency of your tinnitus. If you are not interested in spending money than the videos on YouTube work very well also and are pretty much the same in my opinion.

 

[Wolfears]

Definitely. I think it's a lifesaver. I also think it's important to mention that YouTube has a lot of good white noise videos like rainstorms, fan noises, bathtub filling up, etc. The AudioNotch is nice because you can customize your own white noise or sound effect to match the frequency of your tinnitus. If you are not interested in spending money than the videos on YouTube work very well also and are pretty much the same in my opinion.

 

[Wolfears]

Thank you..also while playing the notched music, em I supposed to hear the T (Im still hearing my T at higher pitch than the notched punk noise I selected), or is the whole idea of notching that Im not supposed to hear the T at all while playing it?
Thank in advance you for any clarifications.

 

[Erica343]

My pleasure. You know I'm actually not sure about that. I think it is different for everyone. I notice sometimes I don't hear it and other times I do when I play the sounds. Maybe you can experiment with the tuning of the frequency and try a different one. Sometimes I would even play two different ones at the same time.

 

[SoundB0und]

I bought an AudioNotch subscription yesterday and it's been of great help, the white noise helps to lower my T, notched music not as much but the great thing is it doesn't spike it nowhere near as much as regular music so I can listen to nothced music from time to time and have made many MP3s already. My tinnitus is very reactive to "synthetic" sounds or sounds from earphones(which I never use anymore)/speakers, much moreso than non-synthetic sounds. Has anybody here notched speech? Like regular audio of videos of interviews, speeches or video courses? It's probably fine to do that but I'm not 100 percent sure. I'd like to have all my synthetic sounds notched if that helps and I couldn't find anybody mentioning doing/trying that on this forum. I'm wondering if there are any negative side-effects.

 

[MichaelF6161]

I've been looking into trying some notched sound therapy (white noise and/or music) and have come upon a couple of website/apps that look promising.

AudioNotch.com is one. It's $100 a year, which seems to be reasonable, and you can use the app or the website depending on your devices and preferences. You can create music or white noise files to load on any device as well.

There is also TinnitusNotch.com and an app called TinnitusAngel. I've also heard some recommendations for ReSound's app (I don't have one of their hearing aids, but you don't have to do use this app), but it does not offer notch therapy, just white noise/music combinations, as well as relaxation techniques, etc.

They all look worth a shot, but wanted to see if any one has had actual experience with any of them from the user perspective. I know these therapies vary wildly from patient to patient, but I also want to get some feedback on how easy each one may or may not be to use as far as creating files, merging devices, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Michael

 

[Alfredo]

Hi,

I'm on some sort of sound therapy, I don't know the name. The therapy consists of listening to songs that have frequencies of my tinnitus but muted. For example if I have tinnitus of 6 kHz that frequency will be muted in the song. There's no difference in the songs, but they are less in size.

I would like to add new songs to my library but I don't know how to mute frequencies in the songs.

What program should I use and how can I mute my tinnitus frequencies?

It would be great if someone could do a tutorial on this matter.

Thanks!

 

[SteveShield]

Anyone ever do notch therapy for tinnitus? What I am understanding in that you listen to music or white noise that is missing the Hz you are hearing in the tinnitus... For example, mine is at 14000 Hz so they take out the 14000 Hz from the sound I listen to... is that what it is?

The other theory I am trying to understand is that the brain is missing the 14000 Hz so it makes up for it by making that sound that I hear in my tinnitus and by listening to 14000 Hz, it helps the brain hear it therefore does not have to produce it as much.

I am little confused about which one is most beneficial or both or neither????

 

[Bill S.]

Anyone ever do notch therapy for tinnitus? What I am understanding in that you listen to music or white noise that is missing the Hz you are hearing in the tinnitus... For example, mine is at 14000 Hz so they take out the 14000 Hz from the sound I listen to... is that what it is?

The other theory I am trying to understand is that the brain is missing the 14000 Hz so it makes up for it by making that sound that I hear in my tinnitus and by listening to 14000 Hz, it helps the brain hear it therefore does not have to produce it as much.

I am little confused about which one is most beneficial or both or neither????

That's the $64,000 question. There are treatments built on both the assumption that inserting signals at the tinnitus frequency will calm your brain from the need to add the buzz at the missing frequency, and that cutting out all of the frequency of your tinnitus and a certain amount each way will cause your brain to relax tinnitus.

The two theories are diametrically opposed yet both hypotheses are advanced to push a (sometimes) expensive treatment regiment.

 

[Mister Muso]

I tried this through my headphones today because the research looked convincing. However within a minute my tinnitus spiked and started changing pitch, which was quite scary as it tends not to do that.

I've been warned off headphones by others in this forum so I'm definitely taking those warnings more seriously now.

Also I'm not sure if I have determined my frequency correctly as it's a very high pitched whine that I have.

 

[donniekavang]

Hi Guys,

I've begun looking into Notched Sound Therapy and there's one thing I can't find information on and that is how to best - should I say perform? - said therapy...?

Headphones or speakers? I see issues with both to be honest...

Having headphones on for a prolonged period of time regardless of volume can potential cause further damage but then using speakers means having external sounds bleed over the notched frequencies?

So how do you (those that have had success with Notched Therapy) go about achieving said success? Headphones or speakers?

Thanks.

 

[donniekavang]

So the basis of this therapy is to train the brain to ignore the frequency of the ringing but does anyone know if it's just the frequency of the ringing or the frequency of everything your ears hear? As someone who mixes music I'd rather not stop hearing specific frequencies...

Does notched sound therapy also work best done with headphones or could this cause more issues??

Thanks

 

[GregCA]

So the basis of this therapy is to train the brain to ignore the frequency of the ringing

No, that's not what this therapy is about. There are many articles and scientific studies that explain how it is supposed to work. You can look it up on pubmed.

Does notched sound therapy also work best done with headphones or could this cause more issues??

Probably best done with headphones. Be careful about sound levels (be it with headphones or any other sound source).

Good luck!

 

[donniekavang]

No, that's not what this therapy is about. There are many articles and scientific studies that explain how it is supposed to work. You can look it up on pubmed.

Probably best done with headphones. Be careful about sound levels (be it with headphones or any other sound source).

Good luck!

Hi thanks mate, maybe I misunderstood what it was doing but would the therapy affect what my ears hear externally or just the tinnitus itself??

 

[GregCA]

Hi thanks mate, maybe I misunderstood what it was doing but would the therapy affect what my ears hear externally or just the tinnitus itself??

What I understand from the studies is that it should not affect your perception of external sound sources.

 

[Ringeee]

Where would one start with learning about notched music? Just read the thread, or is there more up-to-date source?

 

[GregCA]

Where would one start with learning about notched music? Just read the thread, or is there more up-to-date source?

Go to pubmed, enter "tailor made notched music therapy" in the search box. Lots of resources there.