Treatments, procedures & devices

One of the most commonly tried alternative treatments for tinnitus — and one of the least conclusively studied, despite dozens of trials.

Lenire pairs sound with tongue stimulation and has FDA De Novo authorisation. What its trials show, who ran them, and the control they all lack.

Two substantial studies show real benefit — one against a wait-list, one against routine care. Neither isolates the biofeedback, and the largest of them describes its own intervention as cognitive-behavioural treatment with biofeedback inside it.

Chiropractic care for tinnitus rests on a real mechanism (cervicogenic somatic tinnitus), but direct evidence for chiropractic itself remains thin.

Three commonly recommended tinnitus treatments work in different ways. A practical guide to which one makes sense to try first, based on your situation.

Cochlear implants often substantially reduce tinnitus in single-sided deafness and in wider hearing loss — but only for people who qualify for an implant.

CBT has the most consistent evidence base of any tinnitus-distress treatment. What it involves, what the Cochrane review found, and how strong that evidence is.

An international trial randomised 461 people across ten treatment arms to find out whether two treatments beat one. Combination won — and the reason it won is not the one most people would assume.

The FDA has documented burns and perforated eardrums from ear candling. What it actually does to your ear, and why it can cause the tinnitus it claims to fix.

A 100-patient retrospective study found ear acupressure plus conventional therapy beat conventional therapy alone. What that can and can't show.

Threading a catheter to an abnormal blood vessel and blocking it off from inside. For a dural arteriovenous fistula causing pulsatile tinnitus, one series reported the sound disappearing completely in 21 of 26 treated patients.

Gene therapy has restored hearing in deaf children, and the headlines were accurate. It is also not the thing most people with tinnitus are hoping for, and the difference is worth understanding precisely.

For the many tinnitus patients who also have hearing loss, hearing aids are often the single most effective intervention available.

HBOT has a real, narrow role in sudden hearing loss and none in chronic tinnitus. Cochrane says so directly, and the distinction is the one clinics blur.

The striking hypnotherapy results all come from comparisons against a waiting list or a token control. The one trial that compared it against an ordinary conversation found no difference on any measurable outcome, and it was published in 1996.

CBT has the most evidence of anything for tinnitus and is rarely offered. Delivered online with an audiologist guiding it, a randomised trial beat weekly monitoring — by how much is worth reading closely.

Uncontrolled studies report 75% improvement from steroid ear injections — but controlled trials found no real benefit over placebo.

The trial behind Lenire's FDA authorisation was single-arm: six weeks of sound alone, then six with tongue stimulation. What it found, and what it cannot show.

Four systematic reviews have examined laser therapy for tinnitus and reached four different conclusions. The reason they disagree is more useful than any of the verdicts, and it comes down to what each one was willing to count.

Using external sound to cover tinnitus. Distinct from sound therapy, which deliberately uses a lower level to blend with the tinnitus rather than drown it out.

Dozens of apps promise tinnitus relief through sound. What most of them do, what two randomised trials of specific apps found, and how to spot a useful one.

Structured mindfulness meditation programs, not just casual meditation apps, have a real research base for tinnitus distress — separate from CBT and ACT.

ACT and mindfulness courses reduce tinnitus distress in trials, including one head-to-head win over TRT. How strong that evidence is, and what guidelines say.

A 24-patient study with no control group reported lower tinnitus distress for six months. A 94-patient randomised trial found no distress advantage over a minimal intervention, and a 2024 trial's win over CBT compared unequal treatments.

Remove your tinnitus frequency from music you like and listen for months. The original trial had eight people per arm, and against ordinary music, most comparisons find the notch adds nothing.

The FDA's 2022 OTC hearing aid rule made devices cheaper and easier to buy — but they lack tinnitus-specific features prescription aids typically include.

Two small placebo-controlled trials of pulsed electromagnetic therapy for tinnitus point in opposite directions, and the better-measured one found nothing.

Which neck and jaw exercises were tested for somatic tinnitus, what improved, and why the tinnitus benefit faded faster than the neck gains in the main trial.

Five phone calls — two with an audiologist, three with a psychologist — beat a wait-list on every outcome measured, including in people with traumatic brain injury.

Roughly a third of people find their tinnitus briefly disappears after the right sound stops. What that proves, what it doesn't, and why it isn't yet a treatment.

White noise, notched sound therapy, and hearing aids as tinnitus management tools — what each does, and where the evidence is strong versus preliminary.

A 2026 meta-analysis of 11 randomised trials reports large effects for injecting anaesthetic near the neck's sympathetic nerves. The handicap score it moved falls short of the point at which patients notice a change.

Focused radiation delivered without an incision, used for tumours near structures that surgery risks. For glomus jugulare tumours a meta-analysis reported 95% tumour control and 54% tinnitus improvement — two different numbers that are frequently conflated.

myNoise, ReSound Relief, Widex Zen — which tinnitus apps work standalone, which need specific hearing aids, and which repackage free sound therapy.

The direct answer is usually no — but that's not the same as nothing can be done. What 'no cure' actually means in practice, and what genuinely changes.

Lenire, Neosensory Duo, Levo, Neuromonics and Desyncra: what each tinnitus device was tested against, the comparison it lacks, and what FDA clearance means.

No cure or approved medicine switches tinnitus off. What eases ringing in the ears tonight, what helps over months, and when to see a doctor first.

TRT pairs counseling with sound therapy to retrain the brain to stop noticing tinnitus. What it involves, and what the evidence shows.

No study has tested the viral tinnitus tapping trick. What it most likely does, why any relief lasts seconds to minutes, and whether it is safe to try.

Fourteen trials, 1,031 people. Transcranial direct current stimulation shifts loudness and distress a little — and the subgroup analysis shows the effect sits on one target only.

How TMS for tinnitus works, why early benefits faded, and why a 2026 meta-analysis of 8 trials found no significant effect. The AAO-HNS advises against it.

Not every treatment works for every person. How to think about what 'success' realistically looks like, and what to try next.

Vagus nerve stimulation paired with tones is an experimental tinnitus treatment. What the implant and ear-stimulation trials found, and why it is not ready.

LectroFan Classic, LectroFan EVO, Yogasleep Dohm, HoMedics SoundSleep — actual specs, prices, and which sound profile fits tinnitus masking best.

The three most common noise colors sound different and suit different situations — a practical comparison to help you pick the right one for your tinnitus.