Using therapeutic sound with progressive audiologic tinnitus management

tinnitus is “clinically significant ” (i.e., requiring some degree of clinical intervention) for about 20 % of those who experience it (A. Davis & Refaie, 2000; Jastreboff & Hazell, 1998). Tinnitus normally cannot be cured; those with clinically significant tinnitus, therefore, must learn management techniques to minimize its detrimental effects on activities of daily life. Numerous intervention protocols have been described for tinni-tus (Tyler, 2005; Vernon, 1998). Medical management of tinnitus includes surgi-cal intervention and use of medications, both of which rarely result in elimination of tinnitus per-ception. No drug has yet been developed specifically for tinnitus, although eliminating certain drugs may result in cessation of tinnitus (e.g., acetylsalicyli