Tinearity, a Bone Conduction Based White Noise Generator for Tinnitus Relief — Reviews?

One of my well meaning friends who is not well informed on tinnitus sent me information on a device from Sweden, from a company called Tinearity. I went to their page for a quick check.

It looks like a small disc-shaped white noise generator to be placed behind the ear and working by bone conduction. It was developed by a company started by a tinnitus sufferer.

The page claims it can be used to practice TRT.

I know TRT seems to work for some people but is not regarded well here, given also a study showing lack of benefits, but any other thoughts on this device? For example, is there any particular advantage in the bone conduction feature?

It seems it is under development and is not available yet?

The page on their website about tinnitus treatments is not very encouraging: ACT, CBT, TRT, masking and physiotherapy.

Notice also that this initiative seems to be strongly related to an earlier company called Cochlearity, that was discussed in this thread (thanks to @erik for the heads up).

 

I think Tinearity is the device, the company is Duearity AB. I do not know about the bone conduction feature, but it really looks like standard TRT done in a fancy way.

 

Tinearity and Cochlearity seem to be run by the same person Peter Arndt. It looks like the company just got rebranded for some reason.

 

Just FYI (I am personally not going to buy it), this is apparently going live soon, you can now pre-order the device.

 

I do see the advantage of a small bone conduction device, but only for practical reasons: small and discreet (hearing aid type sound enrichers are a hassle to use). Can be used at the same time as earplugs.

Apart from that, white noise is still just white noise so nothing groundbreaking. Still, I think many people would prefer a bone conduction device to administer said white noise. However hearing aid type sound enrichers can be synced with a smartphone and administer all kinds of noises, nature sounds, wave sounds which is what I prefer to listen to myself.

 

This has been applied for FDA approval:

Duearity will submit an application for approval of a tinnitus product in the United States

Looks like more electrical junk.

 

I've written about bone conducting headphones, in case you have tinnitus that can be easily masked (like most people with low-frequency buzzing tinnitus). This is basically just that, but maybe a bit more "wearable", especially if you have long hair, I guess.

With my short hair it will look like my cochlear implant has dropped from its original position (usually sits a bit higher, if I'm not mistaken) But, in times of high annoyance, I think masking is still a nice to have, even just the idea of having it "on hand" would be nice.

No idea why it is so expensive though: 580 EUR for bone conducting headphones seems steep.

Unless I'm missing something, this does practically the same for 85 bucks, AND is a lot smaller too.

EDIT: I have sent them an email to ask what warrants the steep price (as compared to the Ludbeat for example, I'm sure there are others). Will let you know when they respond.

 

@Ben Winders, you don't have a cochlear implant, do ya?

 

No I don't. English is not my 1st language, sorry if that was confusing.

I've received a reply from Duearity:

 

Ludbeat did not make it to the market because of lack of funding (I donated to their start up).

 

Looks like they are starting shipping next month and I'm interested in this given that my ear canals are easily irritated. I doubt I could stomach in-ear maskers?

 

This link contains a lot more information:

Duearity to develop AI solution for people suffering from tinnitus

 

Do you mean the type of tinnitus that is masked by cicadas/crickets etc?

 

No - tinnitus that can be masked by cicadas/crickets is not low frequency tinnitus. I need a low humming noise to mask my low frequency tinnitus.

 

I can't see how that would be possible. Only the person w/ the tinnitus knows what the "correct" white noise would be, or sound like. One can buy small earbuds that loop over your ear and sort of "hang" in mid air, not obstructing hearing. True, the white noise itself would be audible, but that would be preferable to hearing the tinnitus.

The user can just put a small radio in their pocket and tune it between stations, raising or lowering the volume and changing the pitch at will. Having user control over this is a big deal, it really helped me when I first got tinnitus, and I was still able to hear sounds and conversation very well.

 

It is amazing that a company invents a white noise machine in 2023, given the study published in Journal of American Medical Association in 2018 with the conclusion "Sound therapies using unstructured, random ("white") noise should be avoided as a treatment for tinnitus."