The Inhibitor

[joe]

Hello.
Has anyone tried The Inhibitor?

http://melmedtronics.com/the-inhibitor.html

 

[joe]

This company has received a goverment contract for all US vetrans administration and department of defense hospitals. Worth a Look

 

[calin]

Hey Joe!

I looked at the site. Ya know, it is the little things that caught my attention... probably just being picky, but I saw spelling errors (testamonial for example) and the site copyright was 2011.

Patient Device
$895.00

What the heck does it do?

 

[Karen]

Calin --- I noticed that, too. I called the 800 number to find out more information, and was told to send an E-mail to Dr. Holmes, at info@melmedtronics.com. I've done that, and will see what he has to say. It appears to be low-level laser therapy, applied to the mastoid area.

 

[Markku]

Q.
Will I get results immediately?
A.
50% of patients receive total relief, immediately. 20% of patients receive partial relief, immediately.
30% of patients receive no relief. Assuming you pass the exclusion criteria, treatment only takes
one minute to determine if you will receive relief.]

Q.
How long does the relief last?
A.
Relief duration varies from minutes to hours to days. Typically, a particular patient's relief duration does not vary.

Q.
How does The Inhibitor work
A.
The term is "residual inhibition". The exact process is the subject of numerous investigations.



Holmes claim that 50% patients receive total relief. Relief which lasts from minutes to hours to days...

"Residual inhibition". [Afaik, usually that lasts only for few minutes at most. Generally when speaking about residual inhibition...]


The presentation and studies that are referred are all carried out by Holmes himself. No peer-reviewing whatsoever? No published results in respected journals?


Something smells really, really fishy here.

I'm not really holding my breath, but we'll see.

 

[Markku]

Basically what I'm thinking is that if the treatment takes 1 minute and most people get only relief for few minutes -> pretty much useless...

If "The Inhibitor" could give total relief to the said 50% for a full 24 hours on average with the treatment taking only 1 minute at a time, then I think this device would be front page news all over the world. I wouldn't mind having a device like this at home, using it for 1 minute every day and be free of tinnitus!

Call me pessimistic, but also the quality of the webpage, spelling errors and lack of quality google results on melmedtronics and/or the inhibitor makes me a bit skeptic about this product.

 

[Karen]

I've just found this:
http://audiology.advanceweb.com/New...t-Contract-for-Tinnitus-Treatment-Device.aspx

 

[Karen]

Be sure to read the comment at the bottom of the above link. Oh, well, I knew it sounded too good to be true!

 

[erik]

My father (recently retired from VA last week) was just talking about the Inhibitor being available at some VA hospitals but didn't know if it worked or not. I guess if this thing really worked we would have heard more about it by now....

 

[mock turtle]

Markku

regarding your observations from april (half way up thread) about this device and residual inhibition ...... the phenomena of residual inhibition raises several big questions when one considers the theories about tinnitus being due to problems with the amygdala- limbic system, or re wiring of the dorsal cochlear neucleus, or over compensation for hearing loss by acoustic cortex

how could listening to sounds that evoke residual inhibition effect the limbic system or the acoustic cortex

http://www.ata.org/sites/ata.org/files/pdf/Cortical_Plasticity_in_Tinnitus_ Bao_ Apr_11.pdf

plus, as we know tinnitus "frequency" perception often reflects at least a part of the hearing spectrum that has been lost... so why this
""
"Matching the tinnitus pitch and frequency does a much better job of producing residual inhibition than when it is not matched," said Dr. Jack Vernon, Professor Emeritus of Otolaryngology at the Oregon Health & Science University. Dr. Vernon is commonly acknowledged as the "father of modern tinnitus masking."."

http://express-press-release.net/10/New Study Offers Hope for Tinnitus Sufferers.php

so if we cant hear those frequencies that are represented by our perception of tinnitus, how the heck does listening to a masking device that matches our tinnitus produce residual inhibition ????

obviously im quite confused

and the notion that the inhibitor (residual inhibition?) works at all even for seconds or minutes is amazing

 

[joe]

I have the Inhibitor device, it produces a high pitched sound through the mastoid, sound output is not through a speaker / earphone that plugs into the ear.

 

[erik]

I have the Inhibitor device, it produces a high pitched sound through the mastoid, sound output is not through a speaker / earphone that plugs into the ear.

Joe, does it work?

 

[Fish]

I do not want to sound negative but this device sounds very similar to this german laser thing

http://www.tinnimed.de/

In the polish tinnitus forum I visit many people said it's a scam; Very expensive and doesn't work at all.

 

[mike]

Has anyone used the Inhibitor for Tinnitus.Could I Get some feedback on this. I went to the VA Hospital and this is what they are wanting me to use to see if it will make a different.

 

[erik]

I did know someone who gave it a shot and it didn't help them but being that there are multiple tinnitus types, it might work for you. It is not supposed to cure it, just temporarily take it away.

 

[mike]

I know, It really puts out a very high sound for 1 min. It is louder than my Tinnitus. I dont think I like the fact that it is louder than my Tinnitus, Because it is high enough. I have only used it a couple of times and it seemed not to make any different. Still not very sure about it.

 

[mike]

The inhibitor . I got one from The Va a couple months ago and tried it, did not like it because of the high pitch sound. So I just sit it aside. Yesterday I decided to you it because the noise was really loud. It took it away for a few minutes. But than it came back at a different sound a little softer. Tried it a couple more times and the same thing. T is still there just a little different. They say you can use it 19 times a day. Dont know about that because mine goes down and I sure dont want to have it 24/7. anybody out there that has used this and what kind of results did you have?

 

[calin]

I avoid high pitched sounds. Don't think I would take to it!

 

[Lynnette]

So I visited the audiologist and tried a demo of the inhibitor...3x for 1 minute alternating each ear with is ultrasonic device. Didn't work...and I swear my T is louder tonight too, damn! Walked away with a bunch of pamphlets maskers, ear plugs and info sheets on tinnitus...everything I already knew about. I need to stop looking for the magic cure and life my life.

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

I tried the Inhibitor a couple of years ago. It was a strange experience. The Inhibitor shuts itself off automatically after a minute. But I could still hear it after it shut off. In other words, it made my tinnitus much, much louder. I tried it a couple of times in each ear over a weekend with the same result, then returned it to my audiologist. Fortunately, the effect was only temporary and my T returned to its normal level within a few hours.