Flare Audio Calmer — Does It Help Tinnitus?

I always try to raise awareness of scams Ann
- but I feel like giving up.......x

 

I hadn't realized that you @Jazzer had found out about these. I only came upon them after the wife showed the ad on Facebook. My first thought?
SCAM. So I sent a message to @Contrast to see if he could look into them. He replied you did the work for him. Then I came onto this thread.
Now my thoughts are if it helps, good. But them claiming it kills tinnitus is a load of horse shit.

Personally I wouldn't pay 10 cents to help promote a scam.

Stay cool my friend,
Elmer is fuddled

 

Hi Elmer
- I oppose this, and every scam, with everything that I’ve got.
But I see no appetite for support in this, so let them all ‘scam to their heart’s content!’

If it’s only me - then why should I care.
At least by drawing attention to this product, you will all now know where to go to promote your very own
‘tears of happiness!’
Dave x
Jazzer

 

I brought a pair of these for my hyperacusis.

It did not help.

I actually found it made the bad ear canal reverbarate slightly more, making a small 'boom' sound each time which is not what I was hoping for.

If my ears were normal then I would say give them a go.

 

Another one bites the dust. Sheeeeesh does a scam have to slap folks in the ear to wake them up.

 

Wake up and then do what? What other options do we have? Lenire for 3000 bucks instead of Calmers for 30 bucks? So far reading the Lenire testimonies I find that $3000 product more or less as effective as the $20 Calmers. But here the folks are bashing this $20 product, but $3000 is okay.

I am not trying to defend Flare Audio, but I am trying to say that filtering out high frequencies may at least have positive effect on reactive tinnitus and hyperacusis. And it is 20 bucks, and you can get refund if this does not work for you. Can you get a refund for Lenire, and the necessary flight and accommodation costs?

 

A scam is a scam I suppose, regardless what it costs.

I don't think this one necessarily is, but we will know whether it works for some of not once enough people have tried it.

Have you purchased them? How are you getting on?

 

If this product is supposedly not being marketed for tinnitus then what is it good for? Would anyone consider buying this product for its intended use? Is there really a need for it? If I had headphones or a stereo that sounded like crap I'd use an EQ or buy better headphones/speakers. If I'm at a concert I'll use my musician's ear plugs which also seem to smooth out the high end as well as attenuate the volume.

If it's not intended for tinnitus then why is it advertised all over Facebook that it might help? It's quite a marketing campaign- even my family members who don't have tinnitus are getting the advertisements and telling me about it.

Yeah, it's BS but I'd love to be proven wrong.

 

This *&^ pops up on YouTube for me all the time. Advertised for tinnitus:

 

Yes I got them. I don't think I have much to add to what I have already written in my initial impression https://www.tinnitustalk.com/posts/539446/. They are supposed to act like EQ shaving off the high frequencies and I think they do that job right. Everything else is very subjective and unfortunately also controversial.

I am playing Devil's advocate here as I believe I haven't seen enough evidence to simply call Calmers a scam. That's why I am eager to hear others who have tried them as well.

Looking today I found that they now have a dedicated page on "Calmer and Tinnitus":

https://flareaudio.freshdesk.com/su...s/43000583034-will-calmer-help-with-tinnitus-

There's interesting statement there: "As this was an unexpected benefit we are working with focus groups in the health service and tinnitus support groups to further research this."

If this is so, I think we could contact them and express our doubts i.e. that they unethically use "tinnitus" to advertise their product.

FYI they also provide a report on effectiveness of high frequency attenuation here: here:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1721/0649/files/ISVR_Offical_Report_on_Calmer.pdf

 

Okay if they start to advertise it like that then they're crossing the line they shouldn't cross. I am willing to eat my words and take @Jazzer's side.
I think we should contact them and ask to provide evidence both for their "tinnitus-positive" testimonials and for the effectiveness of their product, otherwise ask to stop using "tinnitus" as a leverage for their sales.

 

I think sharing the truth is important. It probably saved tons of $$ for folks who had their hopes pinned on Lenire. I used to be part of another forum. I wish someone would have spoken up prior to me wasting time & $$$ with *^% CBT snake oil...

 

@bobvann & @Adaś
I am so pleased that you have decided to question this product together with its marketing methods.

Phrases like:

‘we were both shocked and delighted’
‘reduced a grown man to tears’
‘tears of happiness’
‘50% reduction in my Tinnitus’
‘my auntie suffered for years’

All of these claims are ‘apparently’ satisfied customer reviews.
The fact that they make no claims for tinnitus reduction themselves means there can be no legal ‘come back’ on them.

Can you see how insidious this method is.
My actions are driven by my desire to court bad publicity for their company.

I hardly need to remind you that our members here suffer one of the vilest conditions known to man - taking some of us by suicide.
You or I would never resort to such an inhuman scam.
Just for the record, I personally put no credibility into either Lenire or CBT oil.
(Why, for instance, did Lenire drop its original product name of ‘MuteButton?’
Anything to do with Trades Descriptions legal claims perhaps?)

It is very nice to have company on this matter.
But even if I have to go it alone’ I will oppose every SCAM I happen to come across.

Thank you guys.

Dave xx
Jazzer

 

It's very clever. Hey it's a widget for only $36.00! Sell 500,000 or a million plus units. How many people will bother with the refund for such a minute amount...

 

Bob - you are ‘SPOT ON BROTHER !!’

- Proud of you xx

 

Flare Audio are quite simply vile scammers, utilising supposedly genuine third party reviews to make their bogus claims for them.

“We were both surprised and delighted to read”.......etc
“They reduced my tinnitus noise by 50%,
so pleased.”
“They made a grown man cry.”
“Tears of happiness.”

‘Members of this forum know only too well what suffering is.
We are not about to ‘fall for’ your bogus crap!

 

Unfortunately they are far from being the only snake oilists. There is no proven existing cure for tinnitus.

I see a "Positivity" thread in the Support category.

So what is the idea behind that? That the ones who suffer and have a hard time living / dealing are just negative idiots?

 

Not at all. It's for people who are struggling and want some help finding reasons to get through the day. We don't all have to cope in the same way.

 

Does anyone know of a product that is not a scam. I tried and use many supplements with great reviews. The latest was from Piping Rock.com Tinnitus Relief. Tried it two months, zero change. My brain tells me I got some relief from 240 mg of Ginkgo Biloba a day. I stopped taking it after six months and thought things got worst. So I ran down to the store and am still on that with a bunch of vitamins B-12 etc. I have a large piece of property and a closed in farm tractor. Even with double protection, I am damaging myself more if on it over one hour. I hear very little while using the tractor, but certainly have spikes that last for days afterwards. My family members keep telling me they cannot hear the tv when I adjust the volume. Hard for others to understand how bad tinnitus is. I wish it on know one.

 

Unfortunately, tinnitus has no known cure, anyone suggesting otherwise may be seen as shady. Be cautious, don't waste your money on other miracle tinnitus relief pills/device/treatments. Some get some relief, placebo can even work sometimes, but there are lot of snake oilists who only try to get rich on other people's desperation.

In the pipeline there are some very promising research aimed at targeting different types of tinnitus, but it will take time.

 

I've been interested in this product for its intended purpose: controlling and shaping environmental noise. It seems similar to Dubs filters but more targeted, and I'm curious to see how it changes my experience of the sound of the woods / ability to hear animals moving / etc.

I think the tinnitus marketing they are using is super shitty and irresponsible and makes me dubious of the claims; on the other hand, if the product does work as advertised (changing the frequency/response curve of the audio you're hearing, more or less) then I can certainly believe there is some small number of people who would see a beneficial effect on their tinnitus from this. When Flare was being marketed only as a thing to control the noise around you, I can only imagine that if someone with tinnitus bought it for that purpose and had a beneficial change in their tinnitus unexpectedly, they would want to scream their praise of it to the rooftops.

So, I am not necessarily dismissive of all of these testimonials... but using them as marketing communication, lacking blinded peer-reviewed studies, is reprehensible. Ironically I was all set to buy a couple pairs of these because both my wife and I are controlling about noise around us and having as many options as possible, but the exploitative marketing they're using in this regard has been a turnoff and so far I have not ordered them.

 

I am gratified that you can see what I’m on about.
They disgust me - as you can tell !!

 

As far as I know they still have the 30 day money back guarantee...? Maybe just calm down about the Calmers...

 

I got tinnitus probably a year ago or so now. I got it due to ear wax build up in my left ear. The wax build up was so bad I couldn't really hear from that ear at all. I woke up from a dream in which I heard ringing, remember commenting about it in the dream asking if anyone else could hear it, and then when I woke up my ears were blaring.

Once the wax was removed, I got terrible hyperacusis. Thank god that went away, but the tinnitus never did.

I typically have two types of tones: a lower frequency tone that I mostly notice when wearing a headset or headphones (not recommending anyone with tinnitus should wear headphones) at 2,000 Hz and a higher one that plagues my life most of the time, especially when I'm trying to sleep, which varies from 9,000 - 17,000 Hz.

I live right next to the freeway and notice that the traffic noise can really aggravate my high pitch tone, along with other sounds like my PS4 jet engine fan going off.

As many of you have probably done, I've tried everything I can think of to alleviate symptoms. This includes gently sticking my fingers into my ears in different positions and low level depths (I didn't do it deep and yes I know you shouldn't do that but I did it)...

That caused me to sort of get that Ocean sound that you might get when you cup your hand over your ear or more popularly, go to the beach and put a seashell over your ear to "hear the ocean".

Sure as shit, a lot of times I'll find that it greatly reduces my tinnitus (specifically my hated high pitch tone). Unfortunately I can't just go around sticking my fingers into my ear holes in weird positions whenever I'm suffering from tinnitus (which is often).. and regular ear buds don't do the trick either.

So, I saw Flare Audio Calmers and thought it might actually have some validity to it. I'll let you guys know how it works for me once I receive them.

And no, just because it doesn't work for some people doesn't mean it won't help others. I'm not an idiot, I know the risk, I see the way they advertise to tinnitus sufferers... But in my specific case I think it's worth the shot. So save the negativity for Facebook Support groups.

I'll update you all once I get them and test 'em out.

 

Gullibility doesn’t suit me brother.

 

I take it these reviews are from Trustpilot? If you filter on 'excellent' you get tons of reviews talking about how much the product works. So copy and pasting reviews is pretty pointless and won't help anyone make a decision.

Could we just keep this thread to first hand reviews from people who are actually trying it? We can all Google for existing reviews.

 

These days no review can be trusted - even on TrustPilot.

Knowing, as I do, that nothing has ever reduced the decibel rating of tinnitus, since the beginning of time, I will stick to my instinct for liars, cheats and scammers.