Everyone’s heard about these great new technologies that get lumped in with tinnitus retraining and masking, but what does this stuff even do? How does it work, and more importantly, does it really work or are retraining packages too good to be true? Here’s the background info:

What is it? Tinnitus retraining and masking is a a little audio kit that a patient listens to for up to 30 minutes each day. It’s usually about the size of an mp3 player and can be used with any type of headphones, although your doctor probably doesn’t want you to use ear buds with the device.

How’s it work? The audio that you hear through a tinnitus retraining and masking device is matched to the same pitch of your tinnitus. So you’re basically just listening to almost the same sounds as your regular tinnitus. But here’s the trick: the sound is 180 degrees out of phase with your tinnitus.

What does that mean? When two sounds are perfectly out of phase with each other, they cancel each other out. So, in a perfect world, the tinnitus retraining and masking tool will completely clear out your tinnitus. In the real world, it isn’t perfect because tinnitus moves around in pitch just a little bit for most people.

Is this stuff worth it? Kind of…as you listen to your little out-of-phase sounds for a few minutes each day, your brain starts to internalize the sound (the out-of-phase sound). Eventually, your brain starts recreating this out-of-phase pitch all by itself! Which means that your tinnitus is blocked completely or at least partially. In a nutshell, you fool your brain a little bit and it blocks out some of your tinnitus. Whacky, huh?

Yeah, but does it really work? If you want a tinnitus retraining and masking device, then you’re going to have to see an audiologist and have some specially made. It’s expensive and most types of insurance won’t cover all of the costs. Yes, this type of retraining is effective for tinnitus that is caused by cochlear damage, but like all tinnitus cures, it depends on the patient.

So do it yourself! If you’ve got some basic experience or technical know-how, then it isn’t too difficult to make a poorman’s tinnitus retraining and masking mp3. The hardest part is finding the most prevalent pitch of your ear ringing. If you know a musician, then s/he should be able to help you out.

Once you know the pitch, go download a free tone generator and make yourself a copy of the pitch. Now, listen to the pitch and play around with the phase. You know you hit the sweet spot when your tinnitus is a bit blocked out. Save the tone as an mp3 and throw it on your iPod — voilà — your own tinnitus retraining and masking tool.

Just remember: don’t play the thing too loud! You’re trying to cure your tinnitus, not damage your cochlea even more…

Here’s a free tone generator: http://www.nch.com.au/tonegen/index.html

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Disclaimer – nothing in this post is medical advice and you should always check with your doctor/primary care provider before trying to treat your tinnitus at home.

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