Behind/in ear tinnitus masker

[RoseRodent]

I am asking on behalf of a friend whose daughter has terrible tinnitus. She is due to sit her school exams this summer and obviously will be in a totally silent exam hall, which is her worst nightmare. Because her noises come and go she prefers a consistent noise from a masker as she knows what noise it's going to make and that it will not stop and start.

She got rejected for being allowed to take a masking device with headphones in the exam hall with her, but the board said there is an exemption for any device which is built into a hearing aid or which is worn on the ear like a hearing aid - basically it just has to look like it might be a hearing aid and have no speaker or normal type of headphones (argument is she might have the headphones connected to an iPod or whatever which has revision notes on it). I am sure there used to be a good number of BTE tinnitus devices but I can't find any now I go looking!

We are both in the UK, but any info is helpful, perhaps we can send for things from the US if necessary or look for things by brand information here. I can't seem to get a good search going on the net as I keep ending up with 2 separate responses for tinnitus and BTE hearing aid, not a BTE tinnitus device. Sometimes Google is not your friend. :confused:

[NiChiBeiCo]

Is there any hearing loss along with the tinnitus?


There are 2 FDA approved Hearing Aid/Maskers on the market now.

1. Widex Zen
2. GN Resound TS9


They are pricey and they function as both a hearing aid and a masker.

[xbulder]

Is there any hearing loss along with the tinnitus?


There are 2 FDA approved Hearing Aid/Maskers on the market now.

1. Widex Zen
2. GN Resound TS9


They are pricey and they function as both a hearing aid and a masker.

I have hear General Hearing does indeed have some GOOD tinitus products. I believe
the late Vivatone had a tinitus only product And I think Audina also has such a product.

If you can afford it, I would consider Neuromonics which I had heard several testimonials as very good product you should consider.. It is pricey

[RoseRodent]

Thanks, I looked up Neuromonics but couldn't for the life of me work out what it was! The emphasis of the website seems to be on how individual it is to everyone's own needs, so I am not clear on what the actual device is or isn't! It has to be 100% behind or inside the ear to be permitted, and as far as I can see on their website there is a box of some kind. Even a hearing aid remote is not allowed in the room.

There is no hearing loss to speak of, maybe a wee bit sub-par but not into hearing aid territory, which apparently is what makes it so unusual. I'll follow up some of those other names and see where we end up, but they certainly wouldn't be looking at £1,000 price tags since it's only to use for about 3 weeks. The General Hearing stuff looks to be exactly what they would be looking for but no prices or ordering information. Bit of a shame.