Devices and methods for suppression of tinnitus
View Patent ↗Methods and devices for treating tinnitus in human or animal subjects wherein the subject is caused to perceive a tinnitus suppressing sound which fully or partially suppresses the subject's tinnitus. In some embodiments of this method, the subject selects a sound that he or she perceives to be the same as the tinnitus and that sound (or a similar sound that is complementary to the subject's perceived tinnitus) is then used as the tinnitus suppressing sound. In other embodiments, the tinnitus suppressing may be a sound that has previously been determined to suppress tinnitus in a substantial number of subjects.
1. A method for treating tinnitus in a human subject, comprising:
presenting a sound to an ear of the subject;
adjusting a frequency and an intensity of the presented sound as a function of feedback from the subject to generate an adjusted sound comprising at least a perceived loudness and a matched pitch;
generating a sound comprising the matched pitch and an intensity lower than the perceived loudness;
modulating the generated sound with a sinusoid to generate a modulated sound; and
applying the modulated sound to the subject, thereby suppressing the tinnitus of the subject.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the modulated sound has a center frequency from about 100 Hz to about 10 kHz.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the modulated sound has a modulation frequency from about 0.5 Hz to about 25% of the center frequency.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving additional feedback from the subject after applying the modulated sound and, as a function of the additional feedback, adjusting an intensity of the modulated sound within a range from zero to less than the perceived loudness.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the modulated sound has a center frequency from about 100 Hz and about 10 kHz.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the modulated sound has a modulation frequency from about 0.5 Hz to about 25% of the center frequency.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generated sound is a pure tone, a click train, speech, music, band pass noise, or a white noise.
8. The method of claim 1 , said modulating comprising either amplitude modulating or frequency modulating the generated sound to generate the modulated sound.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding an offset ramp to the modulated sound.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein duration of the offset ramp is approximately one minute or longer.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein duration of the modulated sound is up to 8 hours.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said adjusting is carried out based on a double-staircase adaptive procedure.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the modulated sound to a portable audio device.
14. A device for treating tinnitus in a human subject, said device comprising:
an audio interface for presenting sound;
an input interface for received feedback from the subject; and
a processor configured to:
presenting a sound to an ear of the subject via the audio interface;
adjusting a frequency and intensity of the presented sound as a function of feedback receiving from the subject via the input interface to generate an adjusted sound comprising at least a perceived loudness and a matched pitch;
generating a sound comprising the matched pitch and an intensity lower than the perceived loudness;
modulating the generated sound with a sinusoid to generate a modulated sound; and
applying the modulated sound to the subject via the audio interface, thereby suppressing the tinnitus of the subject.
15. The device of claim 14 , wherein the modulated sound has a center frequency from about 100 Hz to about 10 kHz.
16. The device of claim 15 , wherein the modulated sound has a modulation frequency from about 0.5 Hz to about 25% of the center frequency.
17. The device of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive additional feedback from the subject after applying the modulated sound and, as a function of the additional feedback, adjust an intensity of the modulated sound within a range from zero to less than the perceived loudness.
18. The device of claim 17 , wherein the modulated sound has a center frequency from about 100 Hz and about 10 kHz.
19. The device of claim 18 , wherein the modulated sound has a modulation frequency from about 0.5 Hz to about 25% of the center frequency.
20. The device of claim 14 , wherein the generated sound is a pure tone, a click train, speech, music, band pass noise, or a white noise.
21. The device of claim 14 , wherein said modulating comprises either amplitude modulating or frequency modulating the generated sound to generate the modulated sound.
22. The device of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to add an offset ramp to the modulated sound.
23. The device of claim 22 , wherein duration of the offset ramp is approximately one minute or longer.
24. The device of claim 14 , wherein duration of the modulated sound is up to 8 hours.
25. The device of claim 14 , wherein said adjusting is carried out based on a double-staircase adaptive procedure.
26. The device of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to transfer the modulated sound to a portable audio device.
27. The device of claim 14 , wherein the audio interface is a speaker, headphones, a headset, or earbuds.
28. The device of claim 14 , wherein the input interface is configured to receive a selection from a 1-10 ranking scale for the perceived loudness of the presented sound.
29. The device of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to present the sound to the ear of the subject via the audio interface for approximately 3 to 6 minutes.