Treatments & Therapies
What's been studied, what helps, and what the evidence actually shows.
There is no treatment that reliably and permanently silences chronic tinnitus for everyone — and this site says that plainly rather than implying otherwise, because it's exactly the kind of overpromise that erodes trust in tinnitus content generally. What genuinely does have evidence behind it is reducing distress and helping the brain habituate — meaning tinnitus stops demanding conscious attention, even if the underlying signal doesn't fully disappear.
Cognitive behavioral therapy has the strongest evidence base of any approach here — a large randomized trial (Cima et al., 2012, The Lancet) and a Cochrane review both point the same direction: real, if moderate, improvement in tinnitus-related distress and quality of life. Sound therapy — white noise, notched sound, hearing aids — is usually the first thing people try, partly because it's the most accessible; this site's own pitch-matching tool lets you try the notched-sound approach specifically, free, in your browser. Tinnitus retraining therapy combines sound therapy with structured counseling over a longer timeline.
Beyond those three pillars, the evidence gets more mixed the further you go — supplements like ginkgo biloba and magnesium and zinc have thinner trial data than most people assume, and newer device-based approaches like bimodal neuromodulation and TMS are genuinely promising but still maturing. If you're trying to decide where to actually start, the article on choosing between sound therapy, TRT, or CBT is built specifically to help with that decision, and what to do when a treatment doesn't work covers the realistic next steps if your first attempt doesn't help.
Start here
The honest overview: what management can and cannot currently do, and how to choose between the main approaches.
treatments
Can Tinnitus Be Cured? An Honest Answer
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.
6 min read
treatments
The VA/DoD Tinnitus Guideline (2024), in Plain English
The newest major tinnitus guideline makes 25 recommendations and not one of them is strong. Here is every one, what it says, and why the weakness is the finding.
6 min read
treatments
Sound Therapy, TRT, or CBT: Which Should You Try First?
Three commonly recommended tinnitus treatments work in different ways. A practical guide to which one makes sense to try first, based on your situation.
4 min read
treatments
When Tinnitus Treatments Don't Work: Managing Expectations
Not every treatment works for every person. How to think about what 'success' realistically looks like, and what to try next.
4 min read
Psychological therapies
The approaches with the strongest evidence base for reducing tinnitus-related distress — which is a different target from reducing loudness.
treatments
CBT for Tinnitus: What the Clinical Trials Show
CBT has the most consistent evidence base of any tinnitus-distress treatment. Here's what it actually involves and how strong that evidence really is.
5 min read
treatments
Internet-Based CBT for Tinnitus: The Best-Supported Treatment, Actually Available
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.
4 min read
treatments
Progressive Tinnitus Management: The Programme the VA Built, Delivered by Phone
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.
4 min read
treatments
Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Therapy for Tinnitus
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy outperformed TRT in a head-to-head trial — a genuinely notable result for a tinnitus treatment that isn't CBT.
3 min read
treatments
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT): How It Works
TRT pairs counseling with sound therapy to retrain the brain to stop noticing tinnitus. What it involves, and what the evidence shows.
4 min read
treatments
Meditation for Tinnitus: What Mindfulness Programs Do
Structured mindfulness meditation programs, not just casual meditation apps, have a real research base for tinnitus distress — separate from CBT and ACT.
4 min read
treatments
Hypnotherapy for Tinnitus: Promising Studies, No Guidelines
Small studies on hypnotherapy for tinnitus report striking results, but major treatment guidelines don't currently include it, unlike CBT. The honest picture.
3 min read
treatments
Biofeedback for Tinnitus: What the Evidence Shows
A 2025 study found brief biofeedback, combined with breathing and relaxation exercises, meaningfully reduced tinnitus-related disability versus standard care.
4 min read
treatments
Neurofeedback for Tinnitus: What the EEG Studies Found
A 24-patient study found neurofeedback cut tinnitus distress for 6 months straight — but the loudness benefit faded by then. The real, nuanced results.
4 min read
Sound therapy and hearing devices
Adding sound, or restoring hearing. For the substantial share of people whose tinnitus comes with hearing loss, amplification is often the single most effective option.
treatments
Sound Therapy for Tinnitus: What the Evidence Shows
White noise, notched sound therapy, and hearing aids as tinnitus management tools — what each does, and where the evidence is strong versus preliminary.
5 min read
treatments
Residual Inhibition: When Tinnitus Goes Quiet After Sound
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.
4 min read
treatments
Hearing Aids for Tinnitus Relief: A Practical Guide
For the many tinnitus patients who also have hearing loss, hearing aids are often the single most effective intervention available.
5 min read
treatments
OTC vs. Prescription Hearing Aids for Tinnitus
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.
4 min read
treatments
Cochlear Implants and Tinnitus: What Patients Report
For people with single-sided deafness, cochlear implants often substantially reduce tinnitus in the deaf ear — an unexpected side benefit.
3 min read
treatments
White Noise vs. Pink Noise vs. Brown Noise for Tinnitus
The three most common noise colors sound genuinely different and suit different situations — a practical comparison to help you pick the right one.
5 min read
treatments
Best White Noise Machines for Tinnitus: A Real Comparison
LectroFan Classic, LectroFan EVO, Yogasleep Dohm, HoMedics SoundSleep — actual specs, prices, and which sound profile fits tinnitus masking best.
4 min read
treatments
Tinnitus Masking Apps: Do They Actually Help?
Dozens of apps promise tinnitus relief through sound. What they're actually doing, and how to spot a genuinely useful one.
4 min read
treatments
Best Tinnitus Apps: A Real, Named Comparison
myNoise, ReSound Relief, Widex Zen — which tinnitus apps work standalone, which need specific hearing aids, and which repackage free sound therapy.
4 min read
Neuromodulation and devices
Newer device-based approaches. Some have real trial evidence behind them; others are early. The individual articles say which is which.
treatments
Bimodal Neuromodulation: A New Generation of Tinnitus Tech
Lenire, an FDA-approved device combining sound and tongue stimulation, has some of the strongest trial results of any tinnitus treatment.
4 min read
treatments
The Lenire Device: What the FDA Trial Actually Found
The first FDA-approved bimodal neuromodulation device for tinnitus outperformed sound therapy alone in its pivotal trial. The real numbers, not the marketing.
4 min read
treatments
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for Tinnitus
TMS uses magnetic pulses to modulate brain activity linked to tinnitus. The evidence is promising short-term, less certain long-term.
4 min read
treatments
tDCS for Tinnitus: A Small Effect, in One Place on the Head
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.
4 min read
treatments
Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Tinnitus: An Emerging Approach
Pairing mild vagus nerve stimulation with tones is one idea behind Lenire's technology — with its own separate research history.
3 min read
treatments
PEMF Therapy for Tinnitus: What the Actual Trial Found
A controlled trial of pulsed electromagnetic therapy for chronic tinnitus found no measurable benefit over placebo. Why it is still marketed as a treatment.
4 min read
treatments
Low-Level Laser Therapy for Tinnitus: A Fading Effect
A randomized trial found laser therapy reduced tinnitus severity — but the benefit faded by three months, with high non-response rates. The honest picture.
4 min read
Medical and physical treatments
Clinician-delivered interventions, and what the evidence supports for each.
treatments
Is There a Pill for Tinnitus? What the Drug Trials Found
No medication is approved anywhere for tinnitus itself. Here is what was tried, what the trials found, and the narrow places where a drug does have a role.
6 min read
treatments
Steroid Injections for Tinnitus: A Lesson in Study Design
Uncontrolled studies report 75% improvement from steroid ear injections — but controlled trials found no real benefit over placebo.
4 min read
treatments
Hyperbaric Oxygen for Tinnitus: Where the Line Actually Is
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.
4 min read
treatments
When a Treatment Has No Page Here: Checking It Yourself
No article here on cupping, reflexology or reiki, because there is nothing to report. The search that shows it, and how to run it on anything.
5 min read
treatments
Betahistine for Tinnitus: Prescribed, but Weakly Supported
Betahistine is commonly prescribed for tinnitus in parts of Europe, but the clinical evidence review body NICE found no clinical difference versus placebo.
4 min read
treatments
Physical Therapy for Somatic Tinnitus: What the Evidence Shows
A trial of 38 patients found 53% had substantial tinnitus improvement right after cervical physical therapy — but it held for only a quarter of them at 6 weeks.
4 min read
treatments
Chiropractic Care and Tinnitus: What the Evidence Shows
Chiropractic care for tinnitus rests on a real mechanism (cervicogenic somatic tinnitus), but direct evidence for chiropractic itself remains thin.
5 min read
treatments
Acupuncture for Tinnitus: What the Research Says
One of the most commonly tried alternative treatments for tinnitus — and one of the least conclusively studied, despite dozens of trials.
3 min read
treatments
Ear Seeds and Auriculotherapy for Tinnitus: The Evidence
A 100-patient trial found auricular acupressure outperformed conventional therapy alone for tinnitus loudness and severity. What ear seeds can and can't do.
5 min read
Supplements and alternative approaches
Heavily marketed, and mostly weakly evidenced. These articles report what the trials actually found rather than what the packaging claims.
treatments
Does Ginkgo Biloba Help Tinnitus? Reviewing the Evidence
Ginkgo biloba is one of the most widely recommended supplements for tinnitus. The largest and best-designed trials say it doesn't actually work.
5 min read
treatments
Magnesium and Zinc for Tinnitus: What Studies Actually Found
Both minerals are widely sold as tinnitus supplements. The evidence is real but limited — weaker than the marketing suggests.
4 min read
treatments
Melatonin for Tinnitus-Related Sleep Problems
Melatonin has more encouraging trial data than most tinnitus supplements — particularly for people whose tinnitus is tangled up with poor sleep.
5 min read
treatments
CBD and Cannabis for Tinnitus: What the Evidence Shows
A large NHANES study found heavy cannabis users had nearly double the odds of tinnitus. Here's why the evidence points toward risk, not relief, for most people.
4 min read
More in this topic
Check the evidence yourself
Every claim in these articles links to a named source. If you want to work the other way round — starting from the research rather than the topic — these are the entry points:
- The research library — every source cited across the site
- How we rate evidence — the scale behind every treatment claim
- Free tools — hearing screeners, self-checks and sound therapy, all free and in-browser