Photo credit: Andrea Kratzenberg

Most of us have experienced a temporary ringing in our ears at some point in our lives, but for longterm sufferers of tinnitus, life can be unbearable.

However, help is at hand. The pioneering Canadian company Sound Options Tinnitus Solutions (SOTS) is finding its treatment methods to be so successful that it is now expanding from its Hamilton base.

The remedy works by first creating an audiogram and tinnitus pitch match which is personalized to the patient and can then be uploaded to any music playing device. Listening for only a few hours a day can improve or even cure symptoms.

The treatment is the brainchild of CEO Michael Chrostowski who spent five years studying the problem after being underwhelmed by existing expensive treatments.

Chrotowski told the Hamilton Spectator: "Tinnitus develops when the brain is trying to compensate for something."

"Our software uses the data from the clinics to tell us what kinds of sounds that person's brain needs to get it to stop trying to compensate."

Over the last year the software, which Chrostowski himself created, has been helping patients at 18 audiology clinics, the results of which will be published this summer.