Question: I've had tinnitus (a rare side-effect to a one-month drug treatment course) for over two years. From what I've seen, the most dramatic claims for cure/alleviation come from the Baltimore physician, Jazreboff (sorry!! I know the spelling's wrong, but I can't find a handy reference.) Yet this sound retraining approach seems to be viewed skeptically by at least some well-connected experts, such as the Portland Tinnitus Clinic group. Does anyone know of any real-live personal experiences with this approach? Does it really significantly help 90+% of tinnitus patients who stick with it for the first 6 months, as claimed? I'd love feedback, because I'm willing to try this if it's real, but would hate to put so much time and effort into it if it's not.

Answer: By the "Portland Tinnitus Clinic group" I believe that Bob Kupor means the world-renowned Tinnitus Clinic at the Oregon Hearing Research Center in Portland. I do not know how Bob specifically came to know this information, but I am of the same impression as he - specifically because Robert Johnson, the recently-retired director of that clinic, and Jack Vernon, justifiably the guru of tinnitus for twenty-five years, have told me so face-to-face. Furthermore they have never made any secret about their position - at national meetings, international meetings and symposia, or anywhere else. This is also the position of Billy Martin, the man just hired to take Robert Johnson's place. I think that Bob Kupor has come to the correct conclusion. These three respected authorities have believed from the outset that "sound rertraining" is no more than a variation of masking, a tinnitus treatment first described in the 1820's by Itard in France, and rerfined and championed for almost three decades at the Oregon Hearing Research Center.

I would add that - to their credit - the powers-that-be at the Oregon Hearing Research Center are ... as all good researchers and clinicians should be ... not closed-minded. They have recently become somewhat impressed with Jastreboff's work, but they remain skeptical and have many questions. In that regard, Billy Martin has invited me to meet with him and other OHRC faculty next month in Portland to review in detail the differences and similarities between the two approaches (masking and TRT). Jack Vernon will be there, too; in fact, my wife and I will be staying with him and his wife on their houseboat in Portland during my visit. Also, the ATA, whose position until fairly recently mirrored that of OHRC, will be devoting a considerable portion of the March issue of Tinnitus Today to Tinnitus Retraining Therapy.

I think that we are in a period of great change in attitudes towards tinnitus and in the way tinnitus is treated world-wide; however, I feel that Bob Kupor is very much on point with his assessment of the current position of the folks at what he calls the "Portland Tinnitus Clinic group." I think, too, that tinnitus sufferers cannot help but benefit from that fact that the "Portland Group," and "Baltimore Group," and proponents of other legitimate treatment philosophies are working feverishly on their behalf yet are willing to freely exchange ideas.