Tinnitus Retraining Therapy: What It Is and How It Helps

When you hear ringing, buzzing, or hissing in your ears with no outside source, you’re dealing with tinnitus retraining therapy, a specialized hearing therapy designed to help the brain stop noticing persistent ear noise. Also known as TRT, it’s not a cure—but it’s one of the few methods proven to help people stop being bothered by tinnitus over time. Unlike pills or devices that try to mask the sound, TRT works by changing how your brain reacts to it.

This therapy combines two key parts: sound therapy, the use of low-level background noise to gently reduce the contrast between tinnitus and silence, and counseling, a form of education that helps you understand why your brain fixates on the noise and how to let it fade into the background. The goal isn’t to make the sound disappear—it’s to make it feel as unimportant as the hum of a refrigerator or the ticking of a clock. Studies show that after 12 to 24 months, most people using TRT report a big drop in distress, even if the sound is still there.

TRT isn’t for everyone. It works best for people who’ve had tinnitus for more than six months and are frustrated by how much it affects their focus, sleep, or mood. It’s not a quick fix—you need to stick with it for months. But if you’ve tried earplugs, white noise machines, or supplements without lasting relief, TRT gives you a science-backed path forward. You don’t need special equipment beyond a basic sound generator, and you don’t need to see a specialist every week. Most of the work happens in your daily life, as you slowly learn to tune out the noise without fighting it.

What you’ll find in the posts below aren’t direct guides to TRT—but they cover related topics that matter just as much. From how medications like primidone can affect hearing, to how stress and sleep impact tinnitus, to how antibiotics and long-term drug use might play a role, these articles give you the full picture. You’ll also see how other brain-based therapies, like hypnotherapy for gut issues, work on similar principles: retraining how the brain responds to persistent signals. This isn’t just about ears. It’s about how your nervous system learns, remembers, and lets go.