Why I Built Tinnitus Saurus

It Started With a Ringing That Wouldn't Stop

A few years ago, I started noticing a high-pitched tone in my left ear. It was subtle at first — easy to ignore during the day. But at night, in a quiet room, it was all I could hear. I assumed it would go away. It didn't.

Like most people, I went through the stages: denial, frustration, a visit to an audiologist who told me my hearing was fine, and then the slow realization that this was something I'd need to learn to live with.

Looking for the Right Tool

I downloaded several tinnitus apps looking for one that implemented notched sound therapy properly. There are some decent options out there, but none of them quite did what I needed: accurate frequency matching, a notch filter that works on your own music, per-ear profiles, and local-only data storage. I kept thinking about what the ideal version of this tool would look like from an engineering perspective.

Then I Found the Research

The turning point was reading a 2010 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Okamoto, Stracke, Stoll, and Pantev. Their research showed that listening to music with the tinnitus frequency removed — a "notch" — could measurably reduce hyperactivity in the auditory cortex. The mechanism, called lateral inhibition, is the same process your visual system uses to sharpen edges. By depriving the overactive neurons of stimulation at one frequency, surrounding neurons gradually suppress them.

This wasn't snake oil. This was peer-reviewed neuroscience with measurable results.

Engineering What I Wished Existed

I'm an engineer. So I did what engineers do: I defined the requirements and started building.

The spec was clear from the start:

1. Fast, accurate frequency matching — a guided tone sweep that gets you to your tinnitus frequency in under two minutes
2. Real notched therapy — not just noise, but the ability to apply a notch filter to your own music in real time
3. Session tracking — streaks, timers, and stats to keep you consistent, with every session's complete settings saved so you can repeat it with a single tap
4. A relief journal — because you need data to know if therapy is working
5. No account required — your health data stays on your device, period
6. No ads, no tracking, no data collection — just a well-engineered tool that does its job

That's Tinnitus Saurus.

What It's Not

I want to be honest about what this app is and isn't. Tinnitus Saurus is not a medical device. It's not a cure. Tinnitus is complex, and what works for one person may not work for another.

What it is: a well-built implementation of a clinically-researched approach, designed to make daily therapy sessions as easy and consistent as possible. The research suggests that months of consistent daily use can produce noticeable improvements for many people. That's the bar I'm aiming for — an honest tool built on real science.

What's Next

We're building Tinnitus Saurus at Techiasaurus, LLC. The app is coming to the App Store soon. If you're dealing with tinnitus and the ringing-at-night frustration that comes with it, we engineered this for people like us.