As someone who wears hearing aids and suffers from tinnitus, I can say this: the sound generators do help in one way that is not placebo oriented, but also is n

As someone who wears hearing aids and suffers from tinnitus, I can say this: the sound generators do help in one way that is not placebo oriented, but also is not a cure like this study seems to be trying to disprove: masking. Masking is quite different than what they were studying. The sound generators were only ever presented to me as a way to temporarily "soften the blow" of the annoying irritant that tinnitus presents. And it works very well for that. If you don't have tinnitus, you won't understand how incredibly aggravating and discouraging it is to hear that racket all the time - especially when you're in a situation where the ambient sounds would be typically quite pleasant for those without tinnitus. Mask it out during an episode, and you don't end up nearly as anxious and distracted. Tinnitus isn't just the high pitched sound people talk about. It can also be clicks and static sounds - like out-of-band radio, or damn near exact replicas of cicada (June bugs). These effects are really super common. But after my ear surgery what shocked me most was that I discovered sometimes tinnitus is this almost subsonic throbbing rumble that can actually be felt - like being near an idling transport truck. Masking helps get through that a LOT. Obviously I still have tinnitus, so it's not a cure. And I don't think anyone has ever told me it could be a cure. My surgeon suggested it only as relief during the episodes. And for that, it definitely works. This study would be better if it studied that. Anyone claiming it is a cure is misrepresenting the purpose and practicality of using augmented sounds to get by. The author may have sorta-kinda hinted at that when pointing out they weren't looking at the quality of life aspects. If this study was aimed at disproving that sound therapy is a cure, then of course... it was doomed from the start.