The Treatment Process

Help your patients recapture everyday moments without disrupting their lives. The Neuromonics Tinnitus Treatment is convenient and non-invasive, making it easy to use during most regular daily activities.

How it Works

A small, lightweight Oasis™ device with headphones delivers a spectrally modified, precisely designed acoustic neural stimulus which incorporates relaxing music. These sounds, customized for each user’s audiological and tinnitus profile, stimulate the auditory pathways to aid the process of neuroplastic change.  In this way, the treatment reverses the changes that have caused the tinnitus perception to be disturbing for the patient, providing long-term relief from symptoms.

5 Simple Steps

The treatment occurs in 5 steps over approximately 6 months, with many patients reporting some relief immediately. Throughout the treatment process, education and support are provided by a Neuromonics-trained clinician.

Personal Assessment

A specially trained clinician will meet with the patient to evaluate his or her tinnitus and hearing. After assessing their audiological and tinnitus profile, the clinician discusses which treatment options are most appropriate, and whether the Neuromonics treatment can help.

Fitting of Oasis™ Device

Based on the patient's audiological and tinnitus profile, the Oasis™ device will be customized with an individual prescription.

Stage 1 Treatment: Relieving the Symptoms

This stage helps relieve symptoms so that your patient can begin to experience control over their tinnitus while listening to the acoustic stimulus.

The device is worn for at least two hours per day (or longer, if preferred or needed) during daily activities like reading, preparing meals or at the office.

This stage typically lasts about 2 months.

Stage 2 Treatment: Breaking the Cycle

The goal of stage 2 is to help the process of neuroplastic change within each patient's brain in order to all it to filter out tinnitus sounds from their conscious attention and to reduce the associated disturbance. As this happens, patients find they become progressively less aware of their tinnitus and less disturbed by it, between listening sessions and relief continues even without regular use of the Oasis device.

In this stage, the device is used for at least 2 hours per day initially. Treatment times are then gradually reduced as tinnitus disturbance lessens.

This stage of treatment typically lasts about 4 months.

Maintenance

At the completion of the successful treatment program, the clinician works with the patient to develop a maintenance program which they can use to continue to control their tinnitus on their own.

Many people may not feel the need to use the device after treatment. Those who do typically use it for short periods of time (2-4 hours per week) to help them maintain the benefits achieved.

Step 1: Comprehensive Personalized Assessment

Before beginning treatment, a specially trained audiologist will perform a comprehensive evaluation of your tinnitus and hearing to determine your audiological profile. Based on this evaluation, your audiologist will discuss the most appropriate treatment options with you and recommend whether or not Neuromonics Tinnitus Treatment can help.

Step 2: Processor Configuration

Once your audiological profile is determined, your Neuromonics processor – called the Oasis™ device – will be customized with your individual prescription. The device is small and lightweight - approximately the same size and weight of a cell phone, and accompanied by high fidelity earphones. It delivers a pleasant acoustic neural stimulus (embedded in music) at a comfortable listening level. This sound stimulates a wide range of auditory pathways, as well as the emotional (limbic) system and the autonomic nervous system of the brain. This stimulation decreases your disturbance from tinnitus over the course of your treatment.

Step 3: Stage 1

The main goal of Stage 1 is to provide relief from tinnitus symptoms. This occurs as the device delivers an acoustic neural stimulus that provides a high level of interaction with your tinnitus perception. During this stage, you are required to listen to the treatment (through earphones) for at least 2 hours each day – although some people prefer to listen to it longer. Most daily activity like reading, preparing and eating meals or working in the office are all appropriate times when treatment can be administered. During this stage, you will begin to experience control over your tinnitus, instead of having the tinnitus controlling you. Support and education is provided throughout this stage by a Neuromonics-trained clinician. This stage lasts for approximately 2 months.

Step 4: Stage 2

Unlike Stage 1, the aim of Stage 2 is to begin to gain relief from your tinnitus outside of treatment times. The acoustic neural stimulus used in this stage of treatment is changed from the first stage of treatment. The aim of the new acoustic signal is to deliver an intermittent or lower level of interaction with your tinnitus perception. This allows desensitization to occur, which is proven to be efficient and effective at reducing the associated disturbance and impact on quality of life. As in the first stage, you are required to use the treatment for at least 2 hours a day. As this stage progresses and tinnitus awareness and disturbance typically diminishes, so does the daily treatment dose. This stage of treatment lasts for approximately 4 months.

Step 5: Maintenance Stage

After a successful program of treatment lasting approximately six months, a maintenance program is devised for you to manage and control tinnitus independently of clinician support. Many users find they may not feel the need to use the processor any more. If they do continue listening, it's usually for less often and for less time each day to maintain the benefits achieved.