Frequency Asked Questions

Sound from the ear reaches both sides of the brain. In general, the sound from your right ear gets transmitted to the left side of the brain primarily and some of it goes to the right side of the brain. For the left ear, the opposite is true (more goes to the right brain). With the slider, some sound will come through both ears and that is ok.

Sometimes, because of hearing loss that may be more significant in one ear compared to the other, you may hear the sound therapy in one ear only, but because sound information goes to both sides of the brain, it is ok.

It's not uncommon to have this problem after sleep. This is because the brain is generally very active during sleep. In fact, there is more brain activity during sleep than there is during waking hours. This increase in activity and change in the hormonal balance in the brain can trigger the areas in the hearing part of the brain (auditory cortex) to become more active. It is also possible that the brain starts paying more attention to the information generated in the hearing part of the brain. Regardless, it is nothing to be worried about and is normal. This is commonly seen in people who don’t sleep enough, have sleep apnea, have insomnia, or sleep too much. It may be advisable to see a sleep specialist to make sure you don’t have those conditions and if so treat them. Improving sleep will help tinnitus. Doing things to reduce your stress, e.g., exercise, meditation, etc. will help reduce the sleep-related issues as well.

If you use hearing aids during the day, then you just have to do the tinnitus match with your hearing aids on and listen to the sound files with your hearing aids on. The sound therapy can be sent via Bluetooth to your hearing aids if your hearing aids have Bluetooth.

Our system does not deliver "notched" music which was done by a German research group. Our system is similar to Neuromonics but costs significantly less since it is delivered via the web. Our advantage over Neuromonics is that you can use your own MP3 music rather than listen to the same 4 tracks that Neuromonics has on their device.

We don't think that "notched" music will hold up long term if the study is repeated and peer reviewed by other research groups. Even the recent, high publicity study from Dallas used a sound stimulation at the tinnitus frequency (similar to ours) along with their electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve in rats. Since its first publication, the notched tinnitus therapy has not been replicated. Our approach has been successful in 5 clinical studies we have performed.

Most patients get instant relief while listening to the therapy sound or the music/sound therapy mixed sound. However, for the neuroplastic changes to occur in the brain, it is generally a process of 3-6 months to get you to a point where the tinnitus sound will not be noticeable in daily activities unless you really think and concentrate hard on it. Combining the sound therapy with our internet based cognitive behavioral therapy will help improve your tinnitus even more.

We generally recommend that you listen to the sound therapy file or music mixed with the sound therapy file any time you hear the tinnitus. Our goal is to have the tinnitus under therapy sound any time it is bothersome. This will allow for faster improvement and reduce the emotional parts of the brain from developing connections with the parts that are producing the tinnitus sound.

The subscription includes unlimited access to the software that creates a sound therapy file based specifically on your tinnitus sound for the duration of the subscription. Many patients experience a change in the pitch of the tinnitus from time to time. This requires that the sound therapy file change because the tinnitus pitch has changed. The sound therapy and music therapy files can be downloaded on your computer or smartphone/MP3 and you can listen to it with headphones.

In addition, you get unlimited access to the music therapy part of the site for the duration of the subscription. This allows you to mix your own music with the sound therapy file. This way, you can listen to your favorite music while the sound therapy sound is working in the background. To keep the cost down you can use your own smartphone and headphones.

You should set the volume of the sound therapy file to the point where you don't hear the tinnitus or just barely hear it.

Generally, we recommend that you use it every time you have annoying tinnitus for at least 10-15 minutes. If after stopping the music or sound therapy file, you still have annoying tinnitus, we recommend you continue to use it.

Go to this page and choose from one of our two membership plan options. [Click where it says, "Subscribe Now"]. Then proceed through the checkout process.

Our system does not have a series of beeps, but it is customized to your type of tinnitus. The algorithm we have developed is a result of a lot of research into what type of sound works best for each individual patient with various frequencies of tinnitus.

The sound therapy sound file sounds like the sound of rain but is completely different from white noise. Inside our sound files, certain sounds are buried that can affect the part of the brain where tinnitus is produced. You can also mix the therapy sound with any MP3 music file you want. The application works with MP4, WAV, OGG, among others. It does not work for every possible sound file. However, you can always stream the sound file from the website and play your music at the same time which in effect is a mix of the two. This way you can listen to your favorite music and the therapy sound is working in the background.

It is best to do the tinnitus match (target) for the more annoying tone. That generally is the higher frequency (pitch) one. The therapy file generally works for the target frequency and other frequencies that are mathematically related to the dominant one. We have found in many of our patients that the lower frequency one tends to reduce in intensity as well after the high frequency one has subsided in intensity. But sometimes you have to make 2 separate sound therapy or music therapy files for each type of tinnitus and use each when that tinnitus is more annoying.

Currently our site supports Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, FireFox, Safari, and Chrome.

No, we recommend exclusively using the music therapy module on the website for making music therapy files.

Yes, you may select multiple files when you are asked to select the source music for mixing. Our proprietary web-based application will then go through and mix each mp3 file and mix it with your sound therapy file. You can watch the progress as the name of the file being encoded will appear below the progress bars. Note: please wait until you receive the finished dialogue box before moving the mixed songs to your mp3 device or manipulate the files in any way.

No, each sound and music therapy file is created for the individual for their particular tinnitus pitch, loudness, and sidedness (right or left). Using someone else's files may lead to an increased loudness.

No, the music therapy files have to be custom made through the music therapy module to set the sound therapy volume properly. Alternatively, you can play the sound therapy from our website on your phone and play music on your phone at the same time.

For the few patients who had this issue, the problem resolved itself after complying with the following recommendations. Sound being too loud or the music creating too much excitement, can temporarily make the ringing louder. Therefore, it is best that you listen to the level of the sound therapy file just loud enough where you can't hear the tinnitus. When using the music therapy file, we generally recommend a softer, more relaxing type of music. Then gradually ramp down the volume over a few minutes toward the end of the therapy session. Do NOT abruptly stop the sound or music therapy as that can sometimes cause a temporary increase in tinnitus.

The site will give you the approximate tinnitus frequency in Hertz (cycles per second).

The software is entirely internet based. There is nothing to download other than your sound file. In fact, in order to streamline the cost, we do not produce any physically packaged software. Instead, it is all delivered over a secure internet connection. After subscribing, you will receive access to the BeyondTinnitus website.

Currently, there is no limit on the number of sound files you can make. We generally recommend that you make a new sound file every time your tinnitus changes. At this time, you can make an unlimited number of music therapy files, however, this might be limited in the near future.

A number of our users reported complete relief from the tinnitus for several hours after using the program. However, the therapy cannot eliminate tinnitus completely and forever. The reason is that the hearing loss that created the tinnitus is a permanent loss and cannot be fixed. The goal of the therapy is to get you to a point where you can't hear the tinnitus most of the time. However, if at a later time you purposely try hard to listen for it, you will hear it.