Does sound therapy cure tinnitus?

No. Sound therapy is a management approach. Many people find it reduces intrusiveness over time, but results vary and it is not a cure.

What is CBT for tinnitus?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a structured psychological approach that targets the way distressing thoughts and attention patterns maintain suffering — not the tinnitus sound itself. The goal is not to eliminate the sound but to change your relationship to it.

How is Tinnitus Toolkit different from just playing white noise?

Generic white noise masks tinnitus temporarily. The therapies in Tinnitus Toolkit each target the auditory system in specific ways: EAE noise is shaped to your individual hearing profile; band-gap noise removes the frequency band matching your tinnitus; flanking band noise engages the auditory system around your tinnitus frequency; and SMR uses modulated sounds to disrupt synchronised neural firing associated with tinnitus perception.

All data — your tinnitus frequency, hearing profile, THI scores, and session history — is stored locally on your device. Nothing is transmitted to external servers or shared with third parties.

Tinnitus Toolkit — Evidence-Based Sound Therapy & CBT App

Beyond masking: sound therapy and CBT tools for tinnitus

Tinnitus Toolkit brings together four research-linked sound therapy approaches with structured cognitive behavioural therapy tools to support tinnitus management.

Match your tinnitus sound, explore guided CBT and sleep sessions, create personalised Soundscapes, track impact over time and follow new research — privately, offline and without ads or tracking.

QR code to download Tinnitus Toolkit on Google Play

Scan on Android

Understanding Tinnitus

Clear information can make tinnitus feel less confusing and more manageable.

Tinnitus Can Be Managed

Even when the sound remains, its impact can change. CBT can help reduce the attention, threat and distress that keep tinnitus in the foreground.

Explore the CBT programme

Sound Can Be Used Strategically

Different sound approaches interact with the auditory system in different ways. Tinnitus Toolkit includes four adjustable approaches linked to published research, although individual results vary.

Compare the four approaches

Personalisation Depends on the Approach

Some approaches use your matched tinnitus frequency, while EAE can use your hearing profile instead. My Sound helps you manually match and save the sound you perceive.

Learn about tinnitus pitch matching

Tinnitus Can Change From Day to Day

Sleep, stress, sound exposure and other factors may influence how noticeable tinnitus feels. Tracking patterns can help without assuming that every change has a single cause.

Explore possible patterns

Build Your Routine

Combine sound therapy, CBT and periodic progress tracking

FOCUSED SESSION • ~1 hour

SMR Decorrelation

A planned listening session using sound shaped around your matched tinnitus frequency. It can play while you continue another quiet activity.

Frequency matched Planned listening

OTHER APPROACHES • Choose the approach that suits you

Explore Three More Sound Therapies

EAE

Personalised to hearing

Band-gap

Notched around your frequency

Flanking Bands

Bands around your frequency

💡 Each approach includes its own suggested listening protocol

MENTAL SKILLS • Alongside or separate from sound

CBT Course & Exercises

Build practical skills to reduce the attention, threat and distress that can keep tinnitus in the foreground.

Four-part course

Guided skill sessions

CBT-I sleep tools

TRACK YOUR PROGRESS • Every few weeks

Track Tinnitus Impact

Use the built-in THI questionnaire periodically to see how tinnitus is affecting daily life over time.

25 self-reported questions

Trends saved in History

For personal tracking only — not a diagnostic test

🎧

Use headphones where recommended

🔈

Keep volume comfortable

📅

Follow each therapy’s protocol

Sound Therapy Approaches

Four adjustable approaches linked to published tinnitus research.

Enriched Acoustic Environment (EAE)

Fernández-Ledesma et al., Healthcare (2025) · Bouzou et al., Brain Sciences (2026)

What it is: Broadband sound shaped using a person’s hearing profile.
Study: 82 adults completed one of two EAE listening protocols; a 2026 follow-up analysed 564 people with tinnitus across five phenotypes.
Outcome: Tinnitus handicap decreased after four months; in the larger follow-up, 78% of treatment completers improved on both THI and TFI.

Band-gap Noise

Okamoto et al., PNAS (2010)

What it is: Notched sound therapy using broadband sound with a narrow gap around your matched tinnitus frequency.
Study: 23 participants listened to tailor-made notched music for 12 months.
Outcome: The target group showed reduced tinnitus loudness and auditory-cortex activity.

Flanking Bands

Tang et al., J Med Internet Res (2025)

What it is: Two adjustable sound bands positioned below and above the matched tinnitus frequency.
Study: 184 participants completed a three-month non-randomised controlled study.
Outcome: The customised-sound group showed a greater reduction in tinnitus handicap than the music control group.

SMR Decorrelation

Yukhnovich et al., Hearing Research (2025)

What it is: Broadband sound modulated to reduce correlations between frequencies near the tinnitus pitch.
Study: 53 participants completed a blinded randomised crossover trial.
Outcome: Self-rated tinnitus loudness decreased after active modulation, but not after sham.

Tinnitus Toolkit implements these approaches independently from the published studies. The summaries describe study findings, not guaranteed individual outcomes.