
Sound therapy is no better than placebo for tinnitus - bookofjoe
https://www.cochrane.org/CD013094/ENT_sound-therapy-using-amplification-devices-or-sound-generators-tinnitus
======
ksaj
As someone who wears hearing aids and suffers from tinnitus, I can say this:
the sound generators _do_ help in one way that is not placebo oriented, but
also is not a cure like this study seems to be trying to disprove: masking.
Masking is quite different than what they were studying.

The sound generators were only ever presented to me as a way to temporarily
"soften the blow" of the annoying irritant that tinnitus presents. And it
works very well for that. If you don't have tinnitus, you won't understand how
incredibly aggravating and discouraging it is to hear that racket all the time
- especially when you're in a situation where the ambient sounds would be
typically quite pleasant for those without tinnitus. Mask it out during an
episode, and you don't end up nearly as anxious and distracted.

Tinnitus isn't just the high pitched sound people talk about. It can also be
clicks and static sounds - like out-of-band radio, or damn near exact replicas
of cicada (June bugs). These effects are really super common. But after my ear
surgery what shocked me most was that I discovered sometimes tinnitus is this
almost subsonic throbbing rumble that can actually be felt - like being near
an idling transport truck.

Masking helps get through that a _LOT_.

Obviously I still have tinnitus, so it's not a cure. And I don't think anyone
has ever told me it could be a cure. My surgeon suggested it only as relief
during the episodes. And for that, it definitely works.

This study would be better if it studied that. Anyone claiming it is a cure is
misrepresenting the purpose and practicality of using augmented sounds to get
by.

The author _may_ have sorta-kinda hinted at that when pointing out they
weren't looking at the quality of life aspects. If this study was aimed at
disproving that sound therapy is a cure, then of course... it was doomed from
the start.

