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Revolutionary New Tinnitus Technologies Now Available in US
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Added: 06/19/2004
Type: Summary
Viewed: 767 time(s)
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Revolutionary New Tinnitus Technologies Now Available in US
“Over 50 million North American adults suffer from tinnitus, often associated with ringing-in-the-ears,” said Dennis Woo, PhD, Vice President of Audiological Products at Spectral Visualization and Development (SVD) Inc in New Brunswick. “We’re sure that our new software, Quiescence, will play a lead role in alleviating much of that suffering.”
Quiescence is a tinnitus management technology that measures the pitch and intensity of tinnitus more precisely and reliably than any other product on the market. “It improves the treatment of tinnitus,” said Dr. Woo, “and paves the way to the development of still newer treatments.”
Quiescence requires no special hardware and runs on standard desktop computers, making it easily accessible to healthcare professionals. “It’s a great tool,” said Dr. Ravi Sockalingham, PhD, of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. “There is no other tool that allows the clinician to match the frequency of the tinnitus and mask it so accurately and effectively.”
Before its release in the United States (after receiving FDA permission to market in the US), Quiescence was tested in Canada and abroad with positive results. “This program helps a patient to learn how to gain control of their tinnitus,” said Dr. Dennis Herx of Audiology Associates in Nova Scotia.
Audiologists use Quiescence in a variety of ways to enhance their tinnitus treatments. For example, they would use Quiescence to treat tinnitus by playing a sound similar to the patient’s tinnitus sound. This causes the tinnitus sound to temporarily disappear by desensitizing the patient to it. That temporary period could be long enough for the tinnitus sufferer to get some sleep. “The constant ringing is enough to cause anxiety, depression and - in extreme cases - suicidal tendencies,” said Dr. Woo. “Even a short break from the sound may be therapeutic.”
“In the time I have had this software,” said Brenda Walsh, and audiologist at the Bancroft Hearing and Tinnitus Center in Ontario, “the majority of patients have experienced a softening of to complete silence of their tinnitus for up to 18 hours”
Quiescence allows audiologists to precisely target just the narrow band tinnitus pitch, thereby drowning it out but still allowing the broad band of sound, including speech, to be unaffected. “It can even be used to fine-tune digital hearing aids used by tinnitus sufferers,” said Dr. Woo.
Tinnitus is the phantom sound that a person perceives without any physical sound source. It is a legitimate medical problem, but it’s often overlooked because it’s difficult to quantify. Many tinnitus patients are simply told to “get used to it”. According to the American Tinnitus Association, over 16% of the adult population has chronic tinnitus which translates to over 50 million people alone in North America. Statistics also show that, of this population, 12% of the tinnitus sufferers have severe cases.
Since 1996, SVD has been developing software products arising from the application of digital signal processing technologies. The company initially became involved with tinnitus when Dr. Woo was contacted by a tinnitus sufferer whose condition was so extreme that she couldn’t work and was beginning had made a suicide attempt. As a result of working with the patient, SVD released the first integrated and fully digital PC-based audiometer and tinnitus manager in 2001.
More information on Quiescence is available at SVD’s web site (svdinc.com). which offers a free trial version of the software, or by contacting the company at 506-459-5551. |
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