Patterned sound therapy for the treatment of tinnitus

"New treatment approaches are successfully providing relief for our patients. Cubex is dedicated to staying abreast of new technological developments and is one of the first UK pilot sites for SoundCure™ Serenade®," says Orla Kealy, Audiologist at Cubex.

Over the years we have gone from perceiving tinnitus as a disease of the ear to understanding it as a disorder of the brain. While it is still generally believed that damage to the peripheral auditory system is a necessary factor in triggering tinnitus, recent evidence suggests that tinnitus is caused by abnormal activities resulting from cortical re-organization.Originally developed at UC Irvine, S-Tones® are the foundation of the SoundCure Serenade technology. The approach is to introduce cortically interesting sounds to positively alter abnormal neural activities for the purpose of tinnitus suppression. Different from steady-state sounds such as pure tones and noises, which produce mostly onset and offset responses in the cortex, the temporally patterned sounds we use, such as amplitude- and frequency-modulated signals, produce highly synchronized and robust cortical responses."Serenade is a complete, FDA cleared sound therapy solution," adds Orla. "It is simple to use and customized to each patient. The digital signal processing system is based on the relationship between specific tonal algorithms and their effects. After a tinnitus evaluation, the Serenade device is programmed to deliver the sounds most likely to be effective for that individual. This approach may be used to seek immediate relief, as well as long term benefit when used as part of an ongoing tinnitus treatment program."