It looked interesting, but it’s £3,595
Between this and the tech Sony was working on for hearing aids I may have some reprieve.
Not for $4,000 though. Also, after reading a bit more it’s just a pretty standard device that makes you think about something else. So for the meantime me setting up my headphones on a low-medium volume with something to listen to is far cheaper and provides the same long-lasting results (i.e. none confirmed). Nothing against the Lenire of course, I was mostly hoping treatment leaned on the side of fix!
In terms of effectiveness, I’m sure it does a great job. My tinnitus is definitely able to be noticed then gets worse, which is why having close sound right up in there helps a lot for me. (Speakers don’t quite “drown out” the tone the way in-ear or over-ear headphones do). The article also has it spot on about the wide range of causes and reliefs. I often use sounds of water to help alleviate a flareup.
Anyway, nice read. A little too bad it’s not something long term, and that it’s so expensive for what sounds like the prank shock-gum for your tongue and a pair of headphones
Do you have more info on Sony?
I believe I’m talking about the Sony CRE-C10 Over the Counter Hearing Aids. I heard about them from an article right before they hit the market They’re like $1,200 I think, but they’re effectively just Bluetooth hearing aids. They don’t have any particular qualities that make them good for tinnitus, just as I mentioned before it’s about just hearing something that isn’t silence so that you’re able to focus on something that isn’t the tinnitus you’re hearing. It should be noted, Sony themselves explicitly say they do not help with tinnitus, which is likely as true as me saying regular headphones don’t “help treat” tinnitus. However, I am pretty much crippled without headphones if I have a really bad flare up.
I use almost the inverse of these, the Sony LinkBuds (and S series). These are Bluetooth earbuds that have a gap in the ear canal so you can hear the world around you. The LinkBuds S are closer to a standard pair of earbuds with the noise cancelling or pass-through sound options, which is over-all nicer due to being able to inherently block out sounds from the bus. Anyway all this to say, I only mentioned them because they’re pretty similar to how I use my headphones.
I can’t speak on how the CRE-C10’s are or how effective they might be for my style of tinnitus, I’m merely making assumptions!
Banks says the ringing in her ears did not completely disappear, but now it’s barely noticeable on most days.
“It’s kind of like if I lived near a waterfall and the waterfall was constantly going,” she says. Over time, the waterfall sound fades out of consciousness.
Yeah it’s just a distraction like playing music/water sounds or getting tickled. Honestly, I’ve put an electric massager to my neck/head and the hum relieves the tinnitus pitch a bit. It seems like this is the tongue-version of that, but since it isn’t as loud they’re pairing it with some sound relief.
A neat idea, I’m glad that it helps people who can afford it. Hopefully it can be priced more reasonably in the future. In the meantime I will have to keep my headphones handy! lol
We would need a trial with a control group to know if it actually works or not. The trial referred to in the article only had two groups that received different versions of the same treatment.
I’ll see how the $50 AliExpress knock-off version works in a year or two