ZDNET’s key takeaways
- You can ease your tinnitus with two Android apps.
- It’s not an overnight fix, but it does work.
- Both of these apps are free, but offer premium versions.
Recently, I’ve noticed that my tinnitus has gotten worse, so much so that it’s been keeping me from falling asleep. If you’ve ever had to deal with that condition, you know how frustrating and exhausting it can be.
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The other day, I decided to take matters into my own hands. After a bit of a search, I found two simple apps that have eased my frustration. The first is a tonal therapy app; the second is an ambient sound generator.
Tonal therapy for tinnitus
The idea behind tonal therapy is to use specifically tailored tones, close to your tinnitus frequency, to disrupt and reduce abnormal neural synchrony in the brain. This therapy consists of three steps.
- Use headphones and the app to find the exact pitch of your ringing ear tone.
- Generate four specific therapy tones: two that are slightly higher and two that are slightly lower than your tinnitus pitch.
- Play these tones in a rapid, staggered sequence to retrain hyperactive nerve cells and lower the perceived loudness of the ringing.
I started using tonal therapy on my Pixel 9 Pro (with the help of the Tonal Tinnitus Therapy app) and have found it makes a difference. It takes time and careful use, but if done right, you will find (eventually) a lessening of your tinnitus. I noticed a difference after one day, and a week later, the ringing was gone. Your mileage may vary.
There is a free version of the app, or you can make a one-time purchase ($2.49) to get unlimited use. I’ve searched the app’s official page but can’t find how much time you get with the free app. I’ve yet to run into a limit.
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How it works is like this:
- Insert your earbuds.
- Find a very quiet location
- Open the app.
- Tap Play for the My Tinnitus Tone.
- Adjust the slider until the generated tone matches your tinnitus. (Make sure to match the generated tone with the tone you hear.)
- Select Combine Tinnitus and Therapy Tones from the Mode drop-down.
- Tap Play.
- Wait until the tones complete.
It’s suggested that you listen to the therapy tones at least four hours a day, but make sure to start the first day with bursts of 10 minutes. It is important that you do not focus on the therapy tones, but do something while listening.
Over time, you should notice that the therapy tones help to lessen your tinnitus.
Ambient noise generator
During the first few days of using the tone therapy app, I had to make use of a second app that could help me get to sleep. Anyone who’s suffered through tinnitus will know about ambient noise generators.
It’s like having a fan on so the white noise drowns out your tinnitus; however, some noise is better than others at lessening the effects of tinnitus.
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For me, the best sounds are rainfall and thunder. To achieve that, I use an Android app called Ambience: Sleep Sounds. This app is very easy to use and allows you to select from several sounds, such as rain, ocean, water, night, countryside, wind and fire, music, Zen garden, city, home, ASMR, and colored noise (white, pink, brown, etc.).
Ambience has a Free version (with ads) and a Premium version ($4.99) that removes ads, allows you to save and manage your mixes, plays mixes individually or in sequence, and plays up to 10 sounds at once. Or, you can pay just $3.99 to remove the ads only.
You can also create your own mix of different sounds, adjusting the volume of each to create a perfect blend to counter your tinnitus.
It does take some time to get the right combination and level of sounds, but once you nail it, you’ll find your tinnitus doesn’t keep you from falling asleep (and you don’t have to keep the TV on or a fan at hurricane levels).
By using the Tonal Tinnitus Therapy app, you’ll find you have to use the Ambience app less and less. However, I would keep the Ambience app installed — just in case.
Once I started using these two apps, I was finally able to get to sleep without the frustration of trying to “outthink” my tinnitus. In fact, last night was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in two weeks.
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I know that the tinnitus will come back, but having the ability to fight back just a bit makes me a less worried about that fateful moment when it does return.
