Tinnitus help –
The app for iPhone, iPod and
iPad
Operation
Version
Documentation: Rev. 1.2
Date 15.03.2013
for
Software Rev. 1.22
Date 13.03.2013
Therapy: Dr.
Annette Cramer music
psychologist, music therapist, audio
and voice therapist Hubertusstraße 22 D-80639 München Tel.: 089-17879329 Fax: 089-1708636 e-mail: quintett@googlemail.com Technics: Dr.-Ing.Peer Dahl Keplerstr. 44 D-75175 Pforzheim Tel: 07231-650332 Fax: 07231-965186 e-mail: P.Dahl@ind-technik.de
Content
1 Short and precise: How to use tinnitus help
1.3 Why can ‚tinnitus help’ relieve the
effect of noises in your ear?
2 The app’s functions in detail
2.2 Selection of the language and
introduction
2.4 Tinnitus-profile, Tinnitusfrequency
2.4.1 Tinnitusfrequency – left ear
2.4.2 Vibrato/Tremolo – left ear
2.4.3 Tinnitusfrequency – right ear
2.4.4 Vibrato/Tremolo – right ear
2.5 Tinnitus-profile – Additive
tinnitusnoise
2.6 Masking with sounds of nature
2.8 Timer 15 min / 30 min / 60 min /
endless
Table of
figures
Figure 2‑1: View after start of program
Figure 2‑3: Selection of the language and
introduction
Figure 2‑5: Tinnitus-profile, Tinnitusfrequency –left ear
Figure 2‑6: Vibrato/Tremolo – left ear
Figure 2‑7: Tinnitus-profile, Tinnitusfrequency – right ear
Figure 2‑8: Vibrato/Tremolo – right ear
Figure 2‑9: Tinnitus-profile – Additive
tinnitusnoise, view 1
Figure 2‑10: Tinnitus-profile – Additive
tinnitusnoise, view 2
Figure 2‑11: Masking with sounds of nature
Figure 2‑12: Choosing a sound of nature
Figure 2‑13: Music for reprogramming
Figrue 2‑15: Note: „No music chosen“
Figure 2‑18: Setting – choosing a profile
1 Short and precise: How to use tinnitus help
1.1
Step
by step
1. Put on your headphones
2. Click on “Start”
3. Select the tinnitus frequency that
matches your left ear, your right ear or both ears
4. Set the volume so that your tinnitus is
just covered, taking care that the frequency is not too loud. It should only be
heard softly in the background. If you have difficulties finding your tinnitus
frequency this will probably be because the tinnitus reflects the range of your
hearing loss, i.e. a frequency range that is difficult to hear for you. This is
a common occurrence. If this happens, don’t give up, stay with this frequency
even if you can hardly hear it. Your auditory cortex will be stimulated
nevertheless, that will encourage your auditory perception.
5. Do you hear your tinnitus sound
oscillating or fluctuating? Or at different noise levels or
different pitches? Then use the set up variations in volume, vibrato and
tremolo.
6. If you hear a hissing, roaring or
chirping noise sound in addition to your tinnitus, select that sound too and
set it to the same volume.
7. You have now set up your tinnitus profile
and you can check under “settings”.
8. Mix your chosen tinnitus profile with a
pleasing additional sound (trickling water, summer rain, bird song etc.) and
start the process of masking. Your tinnitus will move more and more into the
background and becomes thereby less and less obvious.
9. Would you like to add music to your
tinnitus setting? If you do, select a pleasing piece for “reprogramming”.
Please read below what you have to notice when listening to music.
10. On the screen “setting” you will see all
information concerning your personal tinnitus profile at a glance. In the
bottom third of the screen you will see the masking sound that you have chosen
or the piece of music you have selected for reprogramming.
11. On the screen “setting” save your
personal tinnitus profile and your ‘tinnitus help’ mix by using the “save”
button and access it wherever you are and whenever you need it. Do you want to
make changes to your profile or your mix? Go back to “start” and – by using the
buttons, select what you would like to change. Do you want to create an entirely
new profile? You can do this via the homepage. Click on “new” and you can
create a new mix. Alternatively, you can reach the homepage by selecting
“setting” “reload” and “back”. You can create a new profile by clicking on
“start” in the top right-hand corner.
12. Do you still hear your tinnitus whilst
using your personal tinnitus setting? Don’t be tempted, don’t turn your profile
louder, but go back to “start” and choose a different tinnitus frequency. This
new frequency needs to be very similar to the one you selected previously. Mix
this frequency with a pleasing sound as a diversion from your tinnitus.
13. Use your personal tinnitus setting at
least for 15 minutes each day.
14. When you are on edge and very stressed, you
can use the program up to 2 hours. However, only do this if you have mixed your
tinnitus profile with pleasing music.
Hint:
Press the (L+R) button for settings that are identical for both
ears. When L+R has
been set, the slide switches will automatically move simultaneously.
1.2
Tinnitus
help with music
Only use this function if you find yourself
in a relaxing environment - free from any disturbances. It will have the best
effect if you can lie down and relax your whole body. This is how it is done:
1. Select one of the three pieces of music
on offer and mix it with your personal tinnitus profile. When music is added,
your individual tinnitus setting should be barely perceptible. The music is now
playing the leading role.
2. Once you have chosen a piece of music you
should initially stay with this piece for at least a fortnight. This is
necessary to achieve a reprogramming of the brain (see “Why can ‘tinnitus help’ relieve the effect of
noises in your ear?”).
Another hint: Many tinnitus sufferers
complain about a hearing loss in the high frequency range. Highs (treble) and
lows (bass) can be adjusted by selecting “settings > ipod
(when using an iphone) > music > equalizer”. Click onto “more treble” and, if needed, “less bass”. This
will help you to train your auditory perception and counteract your hearing
impairment.
1.3
Why
can ‚tinnitus help’ relieve the effect of noises in your ear?
‘Tinnitus help’ is a program that has
been developed over the last five years whilst working with tinnitus patients. sufferers. It has been established and Experience has shown
that indeed it can really can be used to achieve changes in the ear change
subjective hearing and in a person’s the auditory perception. This will have a
positive effect on the sufferer’s physical as well as mental condition.
‘tinnitus help’ utilizes the fact that the
same brain activities that enable us to perceive auditory stimuli, i.e. real
sounds, also cause the perception of the tinnitus sound in the ear or
head. Thus ‘tinnitus help’ is able to
intervene in all central auditory processes.
‘tinnitus
help’ reflects forms an image of your individual tinnitus frequency and
offers you the option to mix this frequency with pleasant sounds or even
music. This means that ‘tinnitus help’ can assist you to
change the way you perceive your tinnitus sound by letting it gradually fade
into the background. Regular listening to your individual ‘tinnitus help’ setting will enable you to learn how to
increasingly fade out the sound in your ear and eventually ignore it. Experts
call this “habituation”.
This means that ‘tinnitus help’ can assist you to change the way you perceive your
tinnitus sound by letting it gradually fade into the background. By listening regularly to your individual ‘tinnitus help’ setting you will be
able to learn how to increasingly cut off the sound in your ear, enabling you
to ignore it. Experts call this
“habituation”.
The association “I am hearing one or several
sounds or music that are pleasing” will at first be stored in the hippocampus,
our memory centre. If the experience is
repeated by using ‘tinnitus help’,
the hippocampus works like a trainer for your cerebral cortex. It will repeatedly offer the stored
information to the cerebral cortex with the result that this new input will be
learnt and new programmes will be etched into the
auditory cortex.
It will repeatedly offer the stored
information to the cerebral cortex, resulting in the new input being learnt and
new programs etched into the auditory cortex. It has been proved shown that
regularly recurring musical structures act like a massage on certain areas of
the brain. Where tinnitus is present,
this will be experienced as a negative effect.
However, you , the tinnitus sufferer, can turn
this to your advantage by calling up your very own personalized music in your
head. It is retrievable whenever you
need it.
To achieve a positive activation of the
various systems in the brain, the hearing experience needs to be
·
pleasing and enjoyable
·
corresponding to the tinnitus noise and the hearing loss.
This means that, the tinnitus sufferer, can influence your perception processes and learn
to set up the reprogramming of your central auditory pathway.
2
The
app’s functions in detail
The following sections describe all controls
of the various views in order of appearance if one presses the „forward“-button
of the programs column heading panel beginning with the start view.
2.1
The start view
If tinnitus
help is started for the first time or if it did not run in background
before (not in iOS3.x) the following view appears and a gentle bird’s twitter
can be heard:
Figure 2‑1: View after start of program
There are three buttons:
·
Info
·
Start
·
the tinnitus help icon
By means of the button 
the program’s version can be determined. E.g.
in case of questions to the tinnitus
help support this can be important. The display may show something like
this:
Figure 2‑2: Software version
By means of the button 
one gets back to the previous view.
Pushing the button 
or the tinnitus
help icons leads to the next view „Selection of the language and introduction“.
2.2
Selection
of the language and introduction
If tinnitus
help is started for the first time or if it did not run in background
before (not in iOS3.x) the way leads via the start view, see above, to the
following view. Here there are settings to do that only have to be once after
the app’s installation:
·
Select your language: English or German
·
Read the introduction
The settings are saved automatically.
Important: If tinnitus
help is already started or runs in the background, this view is not accessible
anymore. For this the app has to be closed down and restarted.
Figure 2‑3: Selection of the language and introduction
There are 7 buttons:
·
Info
·
Start
·
English Flag
·
German flag
·
Operation
·
Introduction
·
I have read the introduction. Next ...
By means of the button the program’s version can also be determined
here, see section 2.1 “The start view”.
Pushing the button leads to the main menu tinnitus help – but only if the user has read the short introduction and has confirmed this. The
confirmation is necessary because here you can read important information
concerning the handling of the app. Thus it is prevented that the user damages accidentally
the ears.
The two flags
serve for selecting the language. Depending on
the selected language the buttons show an accordant caption. Pushing one of the
flags lets the language toggle. It does not matter which flag is pushed.
Pressing the button 
opens the brief instruction – see section 1 “Short and precise: How to use
tinnitus help” – with the possibility to load this complete document from
the internet.
Pressing the button 
opens the introduction text with the possibility to confirm the attention.
Like the button 
the button leads to the main
menu of tinnitus help.
2.3
The main menu
The main menu is the linchpin of tinnitus help. From here you can access
all functions.
Figure 2‑4: The main menu
From top to the bottom there are the
following buttons:
·
Operation
·
Start
·
Start – tinnitus profile
·
Noise – tinnitus profile
·
Masking with sounds of nature
·
Reprogramming with music
·
Timer 15 min / 30 min / 60 min / endless
·
Stop
·
+/- 6 dB
·
Dimmer
·
Setting
·
New
Pushing the button 
opens the brief instruction – see section 1 “Short and precise: How to use
tinnitus help” – with the possibility to load this complete document from
the internet.
Pressing the button 
you are starting the pathway through the
setting of tinnitus help. First of
all the tinnitus profile of an eventually perceived tone has to be created, see
section 2.4.1 “Tinnitusfrequency – left ear
does the same.
,
the mixed set up will be played for the wished duration of treatment. After
this time and a bit later the device will switch automatically to the sleep
mode, see section With 
the playback of the actual mix is terminated, see
section 2.9 “Stop”.
The button 
shades the display, see
section 2.11 “Dimmer”.
The mentioned functions are now described
in detail.
2.4
Tinnitus-profile,
Tinnitusfrequency
·
Tinnitusfrequency –right ear
2.4.1
Tinnitusfrequency – left ear
Figure 2‑5: Tinnitus-profile,
Tinnitusfrequency –left ear
From top to the bottom there are the
following buttons:
·
Halve respectively double frequency
The button leads back to the
main menu, see section 2.3.
Pressing the
button 
one gets to the following view „Vibrato/Tremolo – left ear“, see section 2.4.2.
Pressing the
button lets the coupling toggle.
:
Each pressing on this symbol increases the tone’s frequency a little. This
allows a fine setting. The frequency value appears right above in the view.The frequency-slider 
provides to increase or decrease the tone’s
frequency.
:
By means of this button the tone’s frequency can be decreased or increased for
an octave. Thus a higher setting precision is achieved.
:
Each pressing on this symbol decreases the tone’s frequency a little. This
allows a fine setting.
:
Each pressing on this symbol decreases the tone’s volume frequency a little.
This allows a fine setting.The volume –
slider 
provides to increase or decrease the tone’s
volume.
:
Each pressing on this symbol increases the tone’s volume frequency a little.
This allows a fine setting.2.4.2
Vibrato/Tremolo – left ear
Figure 2‑6: Vibrato/Tremolo – left ear
From top to the bottom there are the
following buttons:
The button leads back to the view „Tinnitusfrequency –
left ear“, see section 2.4.1.
Pressing the
button lets the coupling toggle.
The Vibrato-intensity is adjusted via this 
slider,
the Vibrato-frequency
via this slider: 
The Tremolo-intensity is adjusted via this 
slider,
the Tremolo-frequency
via this slider: 
.
The button 
leads back to the
main menu, see section 2.3.
2.4.3
Tinnitusfrequency – right ear
Figure 2‑7: Tinnitus-profile,
Tinnitusfrequency – right ear
The button leads back to the view „Vibrato/Tremolo – left ear“, see section 2.4.2.
2.4.4
Vibrato/Tremolo – right ear
Figure 2‑8: Vibrato/Tremolo – right ear
The button leads back to the view „Tinnitusfrequency –
right ear“, see section 2.4.3.
2.5
Tinnitus-profile – Additive tinnitusnoise
Figure 2‑9: Tinnitus-profile – Additive tinnitusnoise, view 1
From top to the bottom there are the
following buttons:
· Volume sliders
for the left and right channel
o
Selection switch for volume control
o
On/Off switch and On/Off indicator for left and right
These controls shall be described in
the following.
The button 
leads to a second view that is offering 6
further tinnitusnoises.
Pressing the
button lets the coupling toggle.
the
volumes for the 6 noise types can be adjusted. The noise that volume is
actually coupled with the sliders shows a green margin. In this example it is
the cicada noise. Each of the six noise groups consists of
- Selection switch for volume control. At any time the two volume sliders can be attached only
to one noise. Which noise this actually is indicates a green margin around
the noise symbol, e.g.
.
By pressing another symbol this will get the green margin. - On/Off
switch and On/Off indicator for left and right. Left and right from the noise symbol button there is
a green
or grey 
point. The color green indicates that the
noise next to it takes part in the mix. The point looks grey if the noise
is not hearable in the mix.
The button 
leads back to the
main menu, see section 2.3.
As mentioned
above the button leads to a second view that is offering 6
further tinnitusnoises:
Figure 2‑10: Tinnitus-profile – Additive tinnitusnoise, view 2
From top to the bottom there are the
following buttons:
· Volume sliders
for the left and right channel
o
Selection switch for volume control
o
On/Off switch and On/Off indicator for left and right
The button leads to the view “Additive tinnitusnoise, view 1”.
The button 
leads to the following page „Masking with sounds of nature“, see next section 2.6.
2.6
Masking with sounds of nature
Figure 2‑11: Masking with sounds of nature
From top to the bottom there are the
following buttons:
· Volume
sliders for the left and right channel
These controls shall be described in
the following.
The button 
leads to the following page „Reprogramming with music“, see next
section 2.7.
Pressing the
button lets the coupling toggle.
The button 
opens a menu to choose a sound of nature from
a list, see the following figure:
Figure 2‑12: Choosing a sound of nature
The button 
leads back to the
main menu, see section 2.3.
2.7
Reprogramming with music
The view of this program
module shows the following figure:
Figure 2‑13: Music for reprogramming
From top to the bottom there are the
following buttons:
· … choose here relaxing music from your device.
They shall be described as follows:
The button 
leads to the page „Setting“,
see section 2.12.
Pressing the button 
opens a list to select a piece of music from the
music library of tinnitus help:
Figrue 2‑15: Note: „No music chosen“
The button 
leads back to the
main menu, see section 2.3.
2.8
Timer 15 min / 30 min / 60 min / endless
.After timer
mode ends and a bit later the device will enter the sleep mode and switch off.
2.9
Stop
2.10
+/- 6 dB
- a more
precise setting of the sum volume than it can be done with the device’s
controls
- in case
of playback from the device’s library: balancing the volumes of the music
player and the tinnitus help
mix
2.11
Dimmer
2.12
Setting
From top to the bottom there are the following
buttons:
The button leads back to the
main menu, see section 2.3.
The buttons 
and 
point to the second settings view:
,
see the following sample:
From top to the bottom there are the following
buttons:
They shall be described as follows:
Figure 2‑18: Setting – choosing a profile
The button 
leads to a dialogue to name a profile
individually.
The column heading panel indicates
the actual profile by toggling between
The button leads back to the
main menu, see section 2.3.