Tinnitus white noise therapy is one of many treatment options available for this debilitating condition.
Naturally, you might want to know if it works, if it could potentially cure you of your symptoms and stop them from coming back.
In this article, I will explain what it is, how it works and how effective it is.
I will also tell you if there may be better options that are more suited to your own situation.
What Is Tinnitus White Noise Therapy? Tinnitus white noise therapy is a type of masking method, among many others.
This means that it is not intended to actually stop your symptoms outright but instead to make them less noticeable.
This is similar to people who do not like to sleep in total silence.
Some people may not even suffer tinnitus or related conditions but prefer to sleep with the television on.
The white noise delivered consists of sounds from all over the aural spectrum.
Usually it sounds a lot like continually rushing water or air.
These days, white noise is normally delivered via an MP3 or CD but you can also buy mechanical devices which rotate and create the sound via various notches and slots as air is forced through them.
How Does It Work? White noise therapy works in two ways.
First of all, it simply masks the symptoms of tinnitus.
The tinnitus sounds may fade into the background or even disappear completely while the white noise is "on".
Nearly all tinnitus sufferers obtain temporary relief in this way.
It is also claimed that this white noise has a therapeutic value too.
That it can help to retrain the ears and/or the brain and stop them from hearing the ringing/buzzing sounds.
This view is often extolled by the manufacturers but is controversial and many do not agree.
How Effective Is It? The most major findings on this treatment method that have arisen in recent years are those by the Cochrane Collaboration who are an independent body who review findings from a wide variety of studies, make sense of them and then produce their final verdict.
When it comes to white noise therapy, the reviewers of the studies concluded that the review "does not provide high-quality evidence that sound therapy devices are better than alternative treatments, but they are probably better than no treatment at all and certainly no harm or adverse effects have been reported with their use.
" So, ultimately, there is no evidence against this therapy but also little in the way of hard evidence for it.
There are plenty of anecdotal stories from people who have benefitted but these are not considered credible enough to make a judgement on.
What Else Is There? There is nothing wrong with white noise therapy and I would advise you to try it, not necessarily for the short term relief but to see if it could have a long lasting therapeutic effect on you.
This is the approach you need to take with tinnitus.
Although I would love to hand you a single pill to take care of your symptoms, there is no such thing.
I doubt that there ever will be.
In all likelihood, tinnitus is a condition that, although it requires hearing damage, is the result of many different co-factors all acting together.
So to get rid of it, you need to address each and every one of the possible co-factors, starting with the most likely ones so you obtain the greatest benefit as soon as possible.
There are many factors such as environment, stress, diet, lifestyle and more that need looking at.
When you do this in a methodical fashion, you can reduce and/or cure your tinnitus via a process of elimination.
Many people can testify that this approach is the best.