Neosensory — Bimodal Stimulation Device for Tinnitus: Any Reviews? A Scam or Not?

Do you even have chronic tinnitus?

 

How does your tinnitus sound? Is it tonal or band noise? In the head, all over the head or just in the ears? Thank you!

 

Just wanted to clarify in the end this device did nothing permanent for me, better or worse since it seems the thread is still alive.

 

I wish it wasn't so expensive. I would have kept it. It was kind of relaxing to use.

 

I'm looking at the Neosensory Clarify for hearing loss, and found this thread while trying to figure out if Neosensory products are a scam. It's not for tinnitus specifically but since they also market a tinnitus product, I'm looking for more information on whether they have proven to be legit or not.

 

I think they are an honest company. They honor the trial period for the device, and didn't try and hassle me when I asked to return for a refund.

 

Can you buy it?

 

You can, but it costs way more than it's worth. For a tinnitus sufferer at least. It may be very beneficial for the hearing impaired.

 

My tinnitus is mainly due to brainstem inflammation. I don't know if Neosensory would help...

 

I just got mine in the mail and did my first session. I will post my results.

 

I took the plunge and ordered the wristband.

Since I am able to induce residual inhibition by playing the right frequencies, I think that this may work out well for me. I know that this isn't a total cure, but if its something that I can use daily to lower my tinnitus for that day, I am OK with keeping it and using it daily. The way I see it is, just as there there are medications that people take daily for symptomatic control of their disease, I will treat this device as something I do daily for symptomatic control until there is something better that comes along.

I'll post results once I've received the unit and have used it for a significant amount of time.

 

I'm just over 3 weeks using the Neosensory Duo. There has been no noticeable change in my tinnitus. I have used the device for at least 10 minutes every day with the exception of 2 days where I was very busy and got sidetracked. 3 weeks is how long they say it takes to start seeing results. Unfortunately it hasn't done much for me. In fact, I think I may be a bit worse now than when I started. I do not blame this on the device however. I think I'm just a bit more stressed and focused on my tinnitus than usual and that's typically what makes it worse.

I will be sending the device back unless there is a significant change over the next week.

 

I'll let you know what I think. I just ordered Neosensory Clarify. I found this forum the same way you did and I'm more interested in the HoH assistance as well.

 

I've been using Neosensory for a month and only missed one day. I always do over 10 minutes and a few times I went for 15 or 20 minutes. A few times I fell asleep to it and when I woke up I noticed it had gone on over 40 minutes.

So far no change in the level of my tinnitus. As a couple others mentioned, it is relaxing. It's similar to other beep tracks in that it definitely distracts your brain from the tinnitus. Whether it's training my brain to ignore tinnitus is still to be seen. Logically it makes sense what it's trying to do (your brain gets a buzz notification that the sound I hear is one to pay attention to). But I would think this would take a long time to do (more than two months). I'm going to do the second month and see what happens.

I have come across a possible flaw. When I did the virtual appointment at the beginning with an audiologist they mentioned there was a recent change in the software. You match your tinnitus frequency and then the app puts a band of beeps around that frequency. Apparently (not 100% sure), the software used to generate tones that were not linked to your tinnitus frequency. Well,here's the problem. My frequency is between 9 kHz and 10 kHz. And I have moderate loss at those high frequencies But the software puts a band of frequencies around that high frequency. But my hearing loss is less at lower frequencies. The result is I can't hear the frequencies above my tinnitus frequency unless I turn up my phone, but then the lower frequencies in the band are way too loud. I emailed the company and explained they need to have dB adjustment for each frequency level. In other words, level out the volume by allowing me to boost those frequencies where I'm deficient. Then when I set my phone level, they will be more even across all the beeps. I don't wear hearing aids yet because my audiologist says I don't need them and I have no problem hearing even in a loud room. But for this device, in order to hear all the beeps at the same level, there needs to be a way to input my hearing loss across the frequency spectrum so I can hear all the beeps comfortably.

I don't think the device would be as effective if I can't hear the tones that match with the buzz on the watch. So I purposely choose a lower frequency so I can hear all the beeps comfortably even though they may now not be around my tinnitus frequency.

 

Wow, that's disappointing. My tone is approx 10.5 kHz so I guess this wouldn't do much for me.

 

The device gives me a spike for 10-15 minutes immediately after using it, then it settles down and seems to go even below baseline.

Anyone with similar experience?

 

I have severe, unmaskable, fluctuating tinnitus after sudden hearing loss, and I don't know why. So I got the full version of Neosensory, and have no idea how the speech part could ever even work. It does nothing for me. I'm curious if I'm just not comprehending it.

When I turn the tinnitus part on, within 20 seconds I do notice a slight difference.
It takes part of the screaming edge/slightly reduces a high pitched piercing whine tone temporarily. It does nothing for the cricket/chirping tones.

More time doesn't reduce anything further and any effect doesn't last long at all, especially once I take it off. Also, they changed it from generic beeps to frequency matching, which is broken for me. And as someone else said, I'm not sure how it would work if my ear can't hear the frequencies.

I still can fully hear the tinnitus over everything / can't distract myself or mask the tinnitus while using this, but I still use it quite a bit because it's the only thing to have any even slightly useful impact.

Overall, I'm not sure why they mention 10 minutes a day is enough if I would have to have pulsing on my nerves/wrist and additional high pitched beeps on nonstop (already have enough of those) to very slightly take the edge off one tone consistently.

Perhaps they can try to make it last longer, like a touch-based phantom stimulation... I'd rather have that than tinnitus.

 

I just want to update everybody that I actually did end up keeping the device. In fact, I am using it right now. I've now owned it for 6 months, and now I own it permanently.

Like many others have reported it does seem to temporarily take the edge off, and it's relaxing, at least for me. I also like feeling like I'm at least proactively doing something to try to help my tinnitus every day. A few months ago, I was doing really well with my tinnitus and felt like I was habituating to it. Not fully habituated, but in the process of habituating. At the time I was using the device for at least 10 minutes a day. I started getting lazy with the device and not doing it every day. I was still using it but I wasn't as strict with it. Anyways, my tinnitus has spiked back up in the past month, so I'm back to using the device every day. I do not think this is something that will magically make my tinnitus go away. But I do believe it is at least nudging me, ever so slightly towards habituation.

 

So this publication came out today on Neosensory - bimodal stimulation of a wristband and tonal matching. The group size was relatively small but the researchers were well aware of a possible placebo effect. There is a reported 21 TFI point reduction in patients with a TFI of 50+ which is very good.

Bimodal stimulation for the reduction of tinnitus using vibration on the skin

Abstract

Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) affects 1 in 10 adults in the United States, often with damaging psychological consequences. Currently, there exists no cure for most forms of tinnitus. Recently, bimodal stimulation – the pairing of sounds with haptic stimulation – has shown efficacy in reducing the symptoms of tinnitus. Previous bimodal stimulation approaches have used electrical shocks on the tongue, a technique that requires daily in-person sessions at an audiologist’s office. We here show that excellent results can be achieved wearing a wristband with multiple vibratory motors. Tones are played and the wristband correspondingly vibrates the wrist of the user at different spatial locations depending on the frequency of the tone. We compared the experimental group with a control group who listened to the tones but did not wear the wristband. The tone frequencies were centered on each user’s tinnitus frequency and the tones were randomized both in frequency and duration. 45 participants with Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) scores of 25 and above were tested. Results show a significantly greater reduction in TFI scores for the experimental group compared to the control. Importantly, with higher baseline severity we find larger differences between the experimental and control groups, revealing greater symptom improvement for those with severe tinnitus. The therapeutic approach of combining sounds with spatially- and temporally-correlated vibrations on the wrist is found to be a simple, time-efficient, and effective procedure to lessen the symptoms of tinnitus.

Results

Participants in the experimental group (tones paired with simultaneous vibrations of the wristband) showed a clinically-significant average improvement in TFI scores of -17.9 (SD = 18.17, n = 22, p<.001, two-tailed t-test; Figure 2A). Interestingly, the audio-only control group also showed a significant difference from baseline of - 7.5 (SD = 15.35; n = 23; p=.03, two-tailed t-test); however, it is important to note that a change in TFI score of less than -13 is not considered clinically significant (Meikle et al. 2012), so while the audio-only control showed a change, it was not clinically meaningful. The difference between the experimental and control groups was statistically significant (t(43) = 2.10, p=.04).

Importantly, participants who started the study with greater severity of tinnitus (as measured by their baseline TFI score) experienced greater improvement from the bimodal stimulation. The difference between experimental and control groups increased with higher baseline TFI scores: for baselines of 50 and above, the experimental group averaged -21.8 (SD=14.6; n=18; p<.001) while the control group averaged -4.6 (SD=15.0; n=18; p=.24); the significance of the difference increased to p=0.002 (two-tailed, t(32) = 3.39).

 

It's hard to see how nerves in the wrist being vibrated can reduce tinnitus. What is the basic science of this? No discussion of the mechanism. Results look impressive but my bullshit monitor is on full alert here.

 

If only it was that easy.

 

Where can you try Neosensory? And if you have a broadband tinnitus sound, how do you match it with the tones provided by Neosensory? A broadband tinnitus sound that encompasses a part of your head, it's felt and heard all over, not just a sound in the ear.

Has anyone with this kind of tinnitus tried Neosensory?

 

The results sound interesting. As a very severe tinnitus sufferer, I think I would give Neosensory a try, if only it was available in France.

It it not as expensive as Lenire. I emailed Neosensory last year and they told me "Currently we are only shipping within the United States. If you sign up for our newsletter you can be updated on when we expand shipping outside of the US. At this time I am not sure of the timeline on that."

The fact that there is a 30-day trial is kind of reassuring.

 

If you hear any news of them starting to ship to Europe as well, please report back!

 

I tried it for a month's trial period and I felt no results whatsoever (besides my tinnitus spiking for a few minutes after each session).

 

It is good that you can return this device for a refund. Lenire should do that offer too - it might attract to them more buyers.

 

You are from Poland, how did you get the device? Can you resell it to me? How else can I get the device?

 

A fellow tinnitus patient from Poland had a business trip to the US: we were 4 people interested to try it so we ordered 4 devices to be delivered to a hotel in the US. She picked them up and brought back with her to Poland. Simple as that. We also negotiated with Neosensory extension of free trial period by 2 weeks so that we could effectively use the devices for 4 weeks before needing to decide if we wanted to return them. 3 of us decided to return it after the trial period (including me), 1 girl kept it for her. In the end, unfortunately, I have nothing to resell. The only way to get the device for outside the US is to order it to your relative's/friend's address in the US who would forward it to you.

 

This is why Neuromod doesn't offer Lenire a trial service.

75% return rate is no good for any business - if it turns out like that.

 

If it worked as they claimed, there would have been no returns.