Tinnitus Treatment with Sound Stimulation During Sleep

What do you think? Is new.

http://www.tinnitusjournal.com/detalhe_artigo.asp?id=69

 

I sometimes use an app called Whist while I sleep. It has helped sometimes and sometimes it hasn't. Though my tinnitus is multiple frequencies and fluctuates between them which makes every day different.

 

It seems like a good idea, except for this part, "Each night, patients fixed the sound stimulation intensity at the tinnitus masking level ..."

No way in the world would I subject my ear(s) to a volume sufficient to mask my tinnitus. Also, it would not be possible to recreate the noises in my head because they are not the same from day to day. However, I do believe that retraining the brain while sleeping is a viable option for those with tinnitus at a 3 to 4 level or below if they have the same persistent sound. It's certainly worth a try. I listened to audio notch therapy while sleeping and it helped somewhat. Unfortunately, after a couple of months I plateaued and just couldn't stand to listen to it anymore.

 

It seems it comes from the same university (from Uruguay).

Impact of sound stimulation during different sleep stages in patients with tinnitus
Marisa Pedemonte1,2, Marcela Díaz1,2, Eduardo Medina-Ferret3, Martín Testa2
1Facultad de Medicina. Universidad CLAEH. Uruguay
2Centro de Medicina del Sueño, Punta del Este, Uruguay
3Escuela Universitaria de Tecnología Médica. Universidad de la República, Uruguay
marisa.pedemonte@gmail.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4371-1289
marceladiaz.1985@gmail.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5130-0287
emedinaferret@gmail.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4919-2862
testaam@gmail.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9970-0765

ABSTRACT
It is known that auditory information is continuously processed both during wakefulness and sleep. Consistently, it has been shown that sound stimulation mimicking tinnitus during sleep decreases the intensity of tinnitus and improves the patients’ quality of life. The mechanisms underlying this effect are not known. To begin to address this question, eleven patients suffering from tinnitus were stimulated with sound mimicking tinnitus at different sleep stages; 4 were stimulated in N2, 4 in stage N3 (slow waves sleep) and 3 in REM sleep (stage with Rapid Eyes Movements). Patients’ sleep stage was monitored through polysomnography, for sound stimulation application. Tinnitus level reported by subjects were compared the days before and after stimulation and statistically analyzed (paired Student t test). All patients stimulated at stage N2 reported significantly lower tinnitus intensity the day after stimulation, while none stimulated during stage N3 and only one out of three stimulated during REM sleep showed changes. These results are consistent with studies showing that sound stimulation during N2 (sleep stage with spindles) changes power spectrum and coherence of electroencephalographic signals, and suggest that the N2 sleep stage is a critical period for reducing tinnitus intensity using this therapeutic strategy, during which auditory processing networks are more malleable by sound stimulation.

Source: http://loquens.revistas.csic.es/index.php/loquens/article/view/58/174

 

I wonder whether the N2 sleep stage can be used as a catalyst for bi-modal stimulation.

 

All believable, but has anyone the sound they describe ?