Was Offered TRT Noise Generators by Tinnitus Clinic for €1000

Hello, long story short I went to a clinic today specializing in tinnitus only and they've done a lot of tests on me and the Doctor offered me noise generators which are supposed to be around 1000 eur which is quite expensive for me. It has three regimes of functioning and I'm supposed to wear them behind my ears 8 hours a day, although she mentioned it has some small tube that's going from the generator to my ears? Sounds like fancy earphones to me. Is this worth the money or can I do it myself for much less money? I don't even know if TRT works at all? Good thing is they offer it free for a week.

She also recommended pillow that generates noise.

Thank you in advance!

 

You know why there is not a cure now,because TRT continues to raise money from the desperat people like you

 

Wow, that was helpful.

Could you at least provide some links to threads or articles why TRT doesn't work?

 

TRT is a treatment with the goal of helping you to manage your tinnitus reaction and perception rather than aiming for a reduction or elimination of the tinnitus itself.

In 1990, Dr. Pawel Jastreboff developed his Neurophysiological Model of Tinnitus. The premise of his model of tinnitus is that people who have clinically relevant tinnitus experience distress not because of the volume or intrusiveness of the tinnitus itself, but rather because their limbic system and autonomic nervous system are dominating their reactions. This belief is the foundation upon which tinnitus retraining therapy is built, to address the issue of the errant dominating systems that have been triggered in response to what is basically an auditory system dysfunction.

The device you wear is intended to keep you immersed in a sound-rich environment, and the TRT counseling is designed to help you accept your tinnitus as not being harmful and minimizing your emotional reaction to it. I don't know the degree of severity of your tinnitus, but you can create your own sound-rich environment by playing one of the sound generators from MyNoise, and there are many wonderful people on this forum who will answer your questions as to how you can habituate to your tinnitus, as well as offering other methods of coping besides the expensive TRT.

MyNoise has an incredible variety of sound generators. One of my favorites for helping me with tinnitus is White Rain.

Edit to add, you might benefit from Acoustic CR Neuromodulation (ACRN), especially if your tinnitus is tonal. There's a do-it-yourself guide to ACRN on Tinnitus Talk. It's very long, but worth the read.

 

Thank you Cheza!

 

Hi:
I just left my opinion on the live chat as i understand well your doubts now (a moment of decision) and most because i have experience with TRT.

What Cheza wrote to you i absolutely agree.
This also depends of what kind of T and level you have (do you feel is happen more in your brain or inside your ears?....)
How do you react to T...?
Is T itself reactive to surrounding sounds?

This is all questions you have to answer to yourself.....

In complement of what was said before:

1000eur could be a waist of money ( i agree especially if they only want to sell you the device) but could may worth the investment if you have a good protocol and team support during a long term therapy of habituation (including professional advices /monitoring visits / and even audiograms as a check out).

If you go for home theraphy try to equalize the volume perception between your T and the real sound devises you are using/ even at night (white or pink noise) every day (or every week) try to down little by little the mask noise....

Well....for me it seems a kind of absurd (but about "High tech pillows" i do not have any experience......)

Cheers

 

What does where you perceive your tinnitus have to do with anything? Just curious, I've often wondered the reason behind "head tinnitus" and "ear tinnitus" as I have experienced both and they are very different.

 

Hi,
I will try to explain the best i can (and based on my own experience) even known english is not my nature language to define such a complex (and perhaps subjective) thread :

Noise induction / acustic trauma is a kind of T (diferent from ototoxic drugs per exemple....) at least in my opinion / there are different causes!

This therapy may have some success in cases with noise induction (which later becomes permanent / chronic) where T is initially felt at the cortex / this usually occurs when the hearing loss begins in the high frequencies but you not feel you have hearing loss because until 8000 HZ you listen perfectly (....it happened to me until 2012).

In this case TRT lead you to focus in other sounds which help to avoid panic / fear or anxiety......functioning as a positive signal and you just ignore your original T tone (i would consider this as previous level of T).

In my case after a acustic trauma (2012) that caused me hearing loss on my left ear, suddenly my T has become completely different / i still feel today a constant discomfort in the left ear / is aggressive / reactive / sensitive - clearly located in the ear (much much different from the ringing feeling in 1999-2000s in my brain / cortex / head / whatever you want to call)....

In my case this therapy dont help me much to "reduce" T perception (except when i use them / but after take the devices T is back again in seconds....)

So....it seems you agree with me in the end (if you know the difference).............

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I just posted in this topic because I understand very well the thankless position before making a decision like this.....
(another therapy with dubious results / or lack of effectiveness prove)

In summary i still think it depends on the state (or suffering level) that T condition cause to the author / I just trying to say if there is a chance of succeed you have to be well supported by a experience team (not just someone who want to foist you to buy a device and make the therapy by yourself....)

Regards

 

Thanks for the explanation. So are you saying "head tinnitus" is easier to retrain and ignore than "ear tinnitus"? I thought the opposite, but I'm only 5 months in.

 

Yes @Alue......honestly is what i think (based on my experience....)

"Ear tinnitus" in my opinion is an advanced damaged condition....is physical beyond the emotional response in the brain only.....

"head tinnitus" is a signal of something is not going well....but in a early damaged condition and if you have something else to distract your brain / do not associate T as a dangerous or annoying condition your brain send this info to a "second layer" and do not give much importance (although the signal still exist....)

Its like a background noise when you enter in a new public building and you ear that at first (because is something new to you) but as you are focus in do something else after a while you do not care ( and think) about the same backgroud noise....

But as i said.....is only my ideia as a layman on "ENT matters"....

To be honest TRT do not satisfy me today.....but i admit it can help people to distract from T and this can make a HUGE difference in life quality (living day by day without suffering with this emotional negative impact....)

Once again, i just post here because i passed for this experience!
I do not intend to be for or against TRT.....
I just think if someone go for TRT take in attention what kind of protocol is offer (otherwise lack of qualified support is difficult to have success...)

All the best to all / Cheers

 

I think @Engineer is using TRT right now. I'm not sure where got his WNG's. Looking at his posts may be helpful.
http://www.puretoneretail.net/tinnitus.html

 

You can do the same thing with Audacity and a mp3 player. I have been using this for 7 months. Add the "Frequency Stop Filter" to Audacity and you can make an even bigger notch to cover a wider area. Audacity is free and the mp3 player with 8GB is about $50.00 at Best Buy.
Ragman

 

Hey guys, thank you for all the replies and all the valuable info and for sharing your experiences! I was there today, it's actually 1500 € and not around 1000 € like my Dic first said. I've tried it and I really couldn't hear T over the enjoyable brown noise (or pink, def wasn't white) but I really don't see the difference between these generators and a pair of simple mp3 or bluetooth earphones. The only difference is that the generators have a mini cable that goes into your ear in a way that it doesn't fill in your whole ear canal so you can still receive the external sounds directly. But you can just use some duct tape to fix the earphones in front of my ear so it's not blocking it completely and voila. The bluetooth earphone can be placed like this even without the duct tape.

 

Yes, they offer you to try it for a week before purchase. So I will try it and try to replicate it with the mp3 player, Audacity and earphones. I'm not even sure if he notched out my tinnitus frequencies in the brown noise today.

Oh and I bought the noise generator pillow for 20 bucks, because let's face it, who doesn't want a singing pillow.

 

Love the sense of humor Vincent! I definitely cracked a smile at your singing pillow comment

 

No question, the WNGs are expensive, but they are easier to sleep with and easier to wear during the day. I don't disagree that the same acoustics can be played into your ear with an MP3 and earbuds. Agreed, the WNGs don't block the whole ear canal and let more ambient noise in. pros and cons.

 

Thanks @Engineer. Was just reading your thread. I've found some cheap noise generators from China and India via Alibaba.com. Not sure how crappy they are since they are like 100 bucks but probably pretty crappy haha.

 

Still another use for duct tape.

Seriously, I used my Ipod and different colored noise, white, pink, blue and purple to do the same thing. I also used audiobooks. They worked not only to help with the noise but distracted me as well. I'd get interested in a good story and forget the noise--helping me get used to it.

 

Ugh, the pillow wasn't that helpful. I tried to sleep with the pillow emitting white noise rain sound only and woke up numerous times through the night from the sound and my T was quite loud in the morning.

 

Whats about this idea, would it help someone else?
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/wearable-noise-generators-with-natural-sounds.15689/

 

I went to an audiologist and find out the pitch of my tinnitus. Got a Starkey Analog Masker. I set the masker at a volume where I could just start hearing it and left it at that level. If you have hearing loss get a hearing/aid masker. Don't get a digital one as it is a lot more expensive and will be overkill. You just want a white noise that matches your tinnitus and an analog unit will work just fine.
I had great results a few years ago , so much so that I purchased a second one as a backup.
This time around my tinnitus is caused by coming off of Xanax and now klonopin so it's a whole different animal. Even the slightest white noise exacerbates it. I had results in three weeks before.

Also benzos inhibit the brain's plasticity. So, I'm stuck until I finish my taper. Sorry about making this post a lot about me.

The thing is to find your "sweet" spot. Just loud enough to start hearing the sound. Not trying to mask out the ringing.

With Audacity you can make your own notched music mp3s. This site tells you how to put a band stop filter in Audacity.
http://www.notchtherapy.com/

 

Thank you guys for your replies.

I've just had my noise generators fitted today for a 10 days trial. But she said I can't sleep in them and they do not notch out my T frequencies in the white noise. I thought TRT was all about that?

Also had a rehersal with a band today, with earplugs and Tactical XP Peltor earmuffs and it went well!

 

My gf just woke me up by calling me on the phone in the middle of the night and my T is very loud, I can't sleep how loud it is since I press my ears to the pillow when I sleep. Hopefully it's because of noise generators and not the band rehearsal, I've been told by my audiologist it can worsen from the noise generators the first few days.

 

I've used it yesterday, that's the second day, for 12 hours and when I went to bed my T was more present or should I say a tad louder. Same happened the night before. I couldn't sleep normally. Is this normal for the first few days?

 

This is what they look like.

 

I am doing the neuromodulator therapy. Instead of noise it is 3 or four different tones with frequency close together. When I wake up my tinnitus is relatively low. Than when I start the therapy the tinnitus almost instantly goes up. No exception. Perhaps somewhat similar to what you are experiencing?

 

Neuromodulation is very interesting. I don't hear my T when I wear my WNG, just a pleasant distant white noise. But when I take them off to go to sleep it's very present and loud, hard for me to fall asleep. Wondering if it's because my ears are getting used not to hear the T so it sounds more present when I take them off? Too bad I can't sleep with them.

 

When I go to sleep I consciously listen to my tinnitus. I noticed several times that before falling asleep I hear my tinnitus going away. So I am concious that I go from awake to sleep "mode".
When I wake up initially my tinnitus is not there. Than when I get "more" awake my tinnitus arrives.
But I was not anxious to listen to my tinnitus when I go to sleep. hat helped me to go to sleep.