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Notched Neuromodulation Sound Therapy for Tinnitus Treatment

Notched sound or audio therapy is one type of tinnitus treatment that can reduce the intensity or loudness of tinnitus. The key change that must be made to the audio track, however, is that the specific tinnitus frequency that is experienced by a given individual must be completely removed from the audio track. By removing this specific sound frequency or "notching" the audio, the tinnitus itself then supplies the missing frequency sound in the audio track. The theory goes that when an individual turns off the notched audio sound, the brain will hear an absence of sound (obviously)... but more importantly may ALSO turn off the tinnitus sound. In practice, the tinnitus sound does not turn off for most, but does reduce in many tinnitus sufferers.

Acoustic neuromodulation helps with tinnitus differently. By using random tones above and below the tinnitus frequency, the auditory cortex is stimulated around the region where the tinnitus frequency is found. This type of sound therapy seems to help disrupt the synchronous neuronal activation due to tinnitus, thereby helping to diminish it.

Notched acoustic neuromodulation is when you combine the two... notched white noise overlapping the acoustic neuromodulation tones. The hope is that the combination of the two may work better than either by itself.

Example notched neuromodulation from 1000-10,000Hz is provided in this YouTube video.


OK! So How Do I Start Notched Neuromodulation Sound Therapy???

STEP 1: Determine your tinnitus frequency - Critically Important Step!

Tinnitus matching can be accomplished by using a tone generator or a Q&A style frequency finder. Do NOT move on to step 2 until you have performed this very important step! Record your tinnitus frequency.

STEP 2: Obtain notched neuromodulation audio sounds

Using the video, replay the frequency (on repeat) that is closest to your tinnitus frequency. Because your exact frequency will probably not be present among the choices in the video, you can also ORDER your own frequency specific notched neuromodulation audio here.

STEP 3: Treatment protocol

The suggested treatment protocol if your tinnitus frequency is 8,000Hz or less is to listen to the notched sound for long periods of time - 5 hours or more at a time.

If tinnitus frequency is above 8,000Hz, listen to the notched neuromodulation audio noise three times a day, 1 hour each time. Be aware, there is no research evidence that notched sound therapy works for tinnitus frequencies higher than 13,000Hz.

Sleeping with the notched neuromodulation audio in either situation works well by additionally providing masking.

Tinnitus relief with notched neuromodulation sound therapy usually takes weeks to months.


References

The Windowed Sound Therapy: A New Empirical Approach for an Effective Personalized Treatment of Tinnitus. Int Tinnitus J. 2009;15(1):51-61.

Listening to tailor-made notched music reduces tinnitus loudness and tinnitus-related auditory cortex activity. PNAS. Vol. 107 | No. 3. January 19, 2010

Customized notched music training reduces tinnitus loudness. Communicative & Integrative Biology 3:3, 274-277; May/June 2010

Short and Intense Tailor-Made Notched Music Training against Tinnitus: The Tinnitus Frequency Matters. PLoS ONE 6(9): e24685. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024685

Clinical trial on tonal tinnitus with tailor-made notched music training. BMC Neurol. 2016; 16: 38.

Counteracting tinnitus by acoustic coordinated reset neuromodulation. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience 30 (2012) 137–159.

Notched Sound Alleviates Tinnitus by Reorganization Emotional Center. Front. Hum. Neurosci., 28 January 2022

Notched and Nonnotched Stimuli Are Equally Effective at the Mixing-Point Level in Sound Therapy for Tinnitus Relief. J Am Acad Audiol. 2021 Jul;32(7):420-425. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1728701. Epub 2021 May 25.

Impact of Spectral Notch Width on Neurophysiological Plasticity and Clinical Effectiveness of the Tailor-Made Notched Music Training. PLoS One. 2015 Sep 25;10(9):e0138595.

Enhancing inhibition-induced plasticity in tinnitus--spectral energy contrasts in tailor-made notched music matter. PLoS One. 2015 May 7;10(5):e0126494. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0126494. eCollection 2015.