According to the U.S. National Health Survey, 42 million American adults experience tinnitus, of those, 7.5 million have it in a severe form affecting quality of life. The number of Canadians experiencing tinnitus to the same degree can only be speculated since no available "national" statistics exist.

Tinnitus is the perception of sound(s), (e.g., ringing, buzzing, hissing, roaring etc.) that can occur in the ear(s) and/or head when there is no external sound source present.

Hyperacusis is intolerance to the normal loudness level of everyday sounds.

In most cases, neither surgery nor medications can relieve sufferers of their tinnitus. They are often told by health care professionals that "nothing can be done" and to "go home and learn to live with it." This form of couselling is usually counter productive as it leaves the individual feeling helpless with no where to turn. Alternative approaches to the management of tinnitus are often not discussed.

Tinnitus Retraining Therapy is an alternative management option that was developed in 1988 by Dr. Pawel Jastreboff.  This well established therapy, based on a Neurophysiological Model, was first introduced to Dr. Jonathan Hazell in 1988 who almost immediately implemented its use for the management of tinnitus and hyperacusis in Great Britain.  Soon afterwards, Dr. Jastreboff provided TRT as a management option  at the University of Maryland at Baltimore. Results for the success of this approach have been very encouraging,  indicating that more than 80% of those receiving TRT  achieved success.  Success is defined as the inability to hear tinnitus a majority of the time or at all unless attention is focused on it, or for hyperacusis, success is defined as the ability to tolerate the loudness level of  normal everyday sounds.

It was the reported success of Dr. Pawel Jastreboff and Dr. Jonathan Hazell that provided the inspiration, encouragement and guidance  needed to establish the Canadian Tinnitus & Hyperacusis Centre.... The first Centre of its kind in Canada to offer Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT).

The TRT approach is aimed at facilitating the habituation of tinnitus sounds and decreasing sensitivity to normal everyday sounds (for hyperacusis) through extensive on-going educational counselling and sound enrichment. The educational counselling is the fundamental part of the management protocol. Sound enrichment may involve: the use of low level white noise provided by noise generating devices that resemble hearing aids, or may involve the use of other sound producing devices such as true hearing aids (if applicable), table top noise generators, cassettes or CD recordings, etc.  The goal however in using noise generating devices is not to cover up or mask the tinnitus. The noise generating devices are used in a very different way from the traditional masking approach.

You are welcome to visit a thorough discussion of this approach  provided by Dr. Pawel Jastreboff and by Dr. Jonathon Hazell.