Sound Options Tinnitus Sound Therapy

Good to see that the wheel is spinning at last

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...heard-sufferers-cry-for-help/article24675852/

 

Another sound therapy just like all the others.

 

Well this is another sound therapy, it's quite easy to setup. Why are they only using classical music ? I don't really get it, it's going to be hard for them because of the typical skeptical tinnitus patient for sure, as said in the article

their website looks like bull by the way...

 

Clinically Validated Tinnitus Treatment Gets FDA Clearance

 

I suppose anything is better then nothing. Worth a try what have we got to lose our tinnitus I hope.

 

I wonder how much it costs? I looked into the Levo System awhile back and it was priced over $5,000, not something I can afford, and not covered by insurance.

 

Costs $400 CAD.

 

Has anyone tried this therapy? Looks like they have a randomized blinded trial that came out... as long as it is $400 and not $5000 i am willing to give this a try

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27838685

 

I'm considering it. I live near Hamilton, where Sound Options is based. I'm desperate for anything and it seems kind of reasonable.

 

Please....anyone who has tried or is familiar report back. At that price I think I would be a patient. I love going to Canada a nice 7 hour drive.

 

A week before I purchased sound clips (they call it HTFS) from healtone for otosclerosis and tinnitus. They are not much costly and affordable for me. Since I am using it, only change I observed is much less vertigo after tiring day and feel relax. But I am desperately looking my tinnitus to go away. If not then may be I will have to go through an operation in a month. My contact number is +91 8055544833

 

First, I would recommend against putting your contact number (I assume it's your personal phone number) on a public forum for everyone to see.

Second, what does your T sound like, and do you have sensorineural losses in addition to conductive losses?

 

I met with an audiologist who works with Sound Options here in Canada. He quoted me that 40% of tinnitus sufferers report complete reduction of their tinnitus, and 60% it reduces to the point where it doesn't bother them anymore. He advised it'a an intensive sound therapy and you need to commit two hours a day to it, and users report success after a year's worth of therapy. The trick currently is to see if people need to commit even longer after a year to maintain results.


As well, he told me personally since my tinnitus is still fairly new (two and a half months in), he wants me to give it time first before I decide to try it, as my hearing test came back fine, and he believes it could go away on its own...

 

A 0% failure rate, i.e. it works on everyone? (assuming the statement was talking about 2 disjoined sets in statistics, not that the 40% was included in the 60%, because that would have been phrased differently)

 

He only quoted me those numbers. And as my T was blaring during the conversation, I wasn't thinking right and didn't ask proper follow-up questions. But he did tell me that they've had "good" success, not great or flawless. I also first received an e-mail initially indicating it's only beneficial for certain types of tinnitus, tonal ringing hissing or buzzing-As well, as he actually wanted me to give it some time, I didn't get the impression he was just trying to sell me something.

 

@RonnieCarzatto

Most sound therapies are just adequate for partial masking and habituation. A few of them claim that they can go beyond and correct tinnitus, but I have heard of very few success cases. There is ACRN, notch therapy, SoundCure, etc... that to start with are only for tonal, and mostly <8KHz T. The reality is that T and hearing and have a very narrow intersection and basically are two very different neuronal networks. Don't expect much from Sound Therapy (or from anything).
Also you say that your hearing test come back normal, that means little more than you do not need hearing aids. The audiometry tests at most clinics are totally outdated (same as they were run 30 years ago): they sample very few frequencies, and leave out anything above 8KHz. A lot of people with head injury get sensorineural hearing loss above 8KHz that is the most delicate region of the cochlea affected by the shockwave of the injury, but with the dated tests one will think that the hearing is perfect and there is no damage. What is your estimated T frequency? That will give you a good idea of the damaged area.

 

http://soundoptions.ca/

These guys are backed by the Ontario Brain Institute - and they're the real deal. As a native Ontarian I'll be looking into this for sure depending on everthing else pans out.

 

I didn't know about them and explored their website. I do recommend a bit of caution. I want them to succeed for obvious reasons, but I can't help but notice a few red flags. Their offering is backed by one study (fairly recent, which is nice) which has the following characteristics:

1. It uses proprietary software, which makes it virtually impossible to replicate the study independently
2. There is an important conflict of interest stated at the end of the study:
   • "Shelly-Anne Li and Michael Chrostowski are affiliated with Sound Options Tinnitus Treatments Inc. and therefore have conflicts of interest. "
3. The measured outcomes are highly subjective/psychological: they are TFI and THI questionnaire scores, which are "Questionnaires aimed at evaluating the impact of tinnitus on a person’s daily life.".
4. Loudness is not measured as an outcome, in spite of being the factor that should be affected by physiological changes in the hearing apparatus as the result of the treatment, as well as the factor that should be the least subjective to measure. Changes in TFI and THI are great, but not seeing loudness being measured makes me wonder whether it was a deliberate choice to leave it out: if you're going to set up a whole infrastructure to do proper study, it seems like a tiny incremental price to pay to collect very valuable data.
5. Sample sizes are fairly low (they admit that towards the end)
6. Compliance was established through a self reporting process where patients had to submit weekly logs describing their compliance parameters for a year. I'm not sure about the reliability of this process.
7. Fairly high dropout rate (>30%) - the data from these dropouts is not analyzed, so we do not know why they left: whether the treatment made it worse for them or some other reason. It would seem logical that if things were going well, you'd be sticking to the treatment, so I view a high dropout rate as fairly negative.
8. The participants were not using the same hardware, in particular the headphones they were using were different and therefore could have significant impact (in terms of spectral changes) on the sounds that they output, and therefore, on the therapy itself.

I do wish them luck though: I think it's positive to see more people/companies getting into the T treatment ecosystem.

 

All excellent points, Greg. I just know the OBI is kind of a big deal here and they don't give their approval to just anyone. Also, it's not like they're claiming a cure, just that it can help - and obviously nothing is going to be able to help everyone for all kinds of reasons otherwise it is a cure. Lastly, for the cost, $400 that's pretty damn reasonable considering how much you can get into with other masking/training systems - generally in the $1000's of dollars. So they're trying to make a buck, but not profiteering off people's suffering. I think that alone should give them some real consideration.

 

hi
any word on this treatment i just found out it is 500 in nyc/nj. the initial visit is free...might go in see what they say

 

They make you listen to classical music at a certain frequency. That's all the treatment is. I met with a hearing specialist about it as his clinic sold Sound Options.

 

Hi Ronnie,

Is it worth a go or a waste of money and time.

Best Denis

 

Tried it last winter. No effect whatsoever. Only difference is I’m $350 poorer.