Notch music therapy may filter out some tinnitus frequencies

A new tinnitus therapy involves mild electric tongue shocks and sound exposures

Lenire, an FDA-approved bimodal neuromodulation treatment approach for tinnitus, aims to teach the brain to distract itself from tinnitus. It includes short-term daily sessions wearing a mouth device that delivers mild electrical pulses to the tongue while listening to different sounds. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

There's no cure for tinnitus, but sometimes it goes away on its own

Though there's no cure, treatments and management approaches can significantly reduce symptoms and improve quality of life. Hearing aids, sound generators, and other steps can help some people with this condition. But sometimes tinnitus resolves within hours or days for reasons that remain unclear.

One decibel of hearing loss increases tinnitus risk by 6% for older people

That's according to an analysis of more than 18,000 people published in BMC Medicine in 2023. The tinnitus risk is not just limited to older people: The research also concluded that one decibel of hearing loss increases the risk of developing tinnitus among young adults by 3 percent.

People with tinnitus should avoid silence—sound-rich environments distract the brain

This podcast from an audiologist discusses common questions about tinnitus. It notes that tinnitus could be described as a phantom sound associated with hyperactivity in the brain. It's linked with loud sound exposures above 85 decibels, hearing loss associated with aging and stress, among other factors.

Hear examples of what tinnitus can sound like to those suffering from it

This video, from a Scottish branch of the UK National Health Service, features different types of ringing, crackling, and other sounds that tinnitus sufferers experience. Individual responses to such phantom sounds may vary widely.

Certain medications can make tinnitus worse

Certain antidepressants, antimalarial medications, antibiotics, ibuprofen, and cancer drugs have been linked with the condition. At higher doses, particularly, it seems they can trigger or worsen tinnitus in some individuals.

Pulsatile tinnitus is when you hear thumping synchronized with your heartbeat

This rare type of tinnitus, which sounds like rhythmic thumping or whooshing, is often linked to blood vessel conditions or high blood pressure. Lowering blood pressure through exercise and food choices can help reduce the severity of this condition.

Gene therapy is restoring hearing among kids with genetic deafness

Gene therapy for profound genetic deafness has been advancing in recent years, with multiple clinical trials enabling hearing at normal levels for the first time without hearing aids or cochlear implants. The therapies target hearing loss caused by mutations in the OTOF gene that codes for a protein called otoferlin. That protein normally plays a key role in relaying sound signals in synaptic transmission between the ear's inner hair cells and the auditory nerve.

An ear doctor with hearing loss seeks to help those with hearing loss enjoy music

Alex Chern, an ear doctor who has hearing loss himself, dreams of restoring the ability to experience "all the richness and the beauty of the sound of music" for patients—not just functional hearing. Hearing aids amplify sound waves and aren't designed to work well with music that may have varied pitch and volume. Chern is studying how hearing loss and engaging with music may affect cognitive decline.

Noise-canceling headphones cancel out environmental sounds with sound of its own

If sound waves are perfectly out of sync, they can undergo destructive interference, canceling each other out. A microphone in noise-canceling headphones picks up external sounds, and an out-of-sync version is emitted to cancel them out in your ears.

A cochlear implant stimulates parts of the cochlea directly, with limited pitch and timbre capabilities

People with these devices have to learn or relearn how to train their brains to interpret nerve signals as sound. The range of the type of sounds that the brain can distinguish with a cochlear implant is limited and consequently it's difficult to understand a tonal language or distinguish individual speakers in a crowd.

Ancient Egyptian papyrus from 16th century BCE seems to reference tinnitus

Ancient Egyptians wrote that they treated "bewitched ear" with herbal concoctions that involved frankincense and other ingredients, which were placed in the ear.

OTC hearing aids are now available in the US and cheaper than prescription ones

The devices, available in recent years, are typically more affordable than prescription ones and are intended for people with mild to moderate hearing loss, yet surveys suggest people often don't feel comfortable choosing one on their own. The nonprofit Consumer Reports ranked available OTC options to help patients navigate the market.

Your favorite music can minimize physical pain

According to a 2025 study, a person's favorite music can help them address pain. The report stated that “listening to a favored music genre has a significant positive influence on pain tolerance, irrespective of the kind of genre.”

A stand-in 'nose' may help people with anosmia to smell certain odors

In a 2025 paper, researchers reported they'd created a proof-of-concept device that bypasses typical olfactory pathways and instead exploits an alternative—the trigeminal nerve in the nose—to detect a few strong scents. The nerve typically helps detect the temperature of inhaled air or the presence of irritants. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Q-tips can cause more problems than they solve

Swabbing the ear with a Q-tip can disrupt the ear wax that naturally protects the ear from dirt and bacteria. It can also tear the delicate skin of the ear drum, causing permanent hearing loss and constant discomfort that's similar to the symptoms of swimmer's ear. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Most custom earmolds for in-ear hearing aids are made using 3D printing

The technology has also been utilized for behind-the-ear and receiver-in-canal hearing aids, allowing for the creation of structures tailored to the patient's anatomy for enhanced effectiveness. 3D printing has also been used to print retinal eye cells and custom eyeglass frames.

Try to catch the 'sound' of black holes in gravitational wave detector data

In "Black Hole Hunter," users try to listen for gravitational wave signals from black holes in four sample data files that include substantial background noise. With each level, learn more about black holes while being faced with ever-quieter signals.

How to help teens balance social media use and mental healthcare

While initially alluring, excessive social media use is proven to lead to increased feelings of isolation, mental health declines, increased stress, and general dissatisfaction among teens. Conducting digital audits to track screen time, adding friction (or obstacles) to app usage to reduce mindless scrolling, and investing time in offline activities and hobbies may help.

Type out a tone and play it back with this fun game

Compose an original piece of music from your phone or desktop with this simple, super fun interface: Just start typing, discover the various sounds associated with each key or letter, and then press play. Go back, tweak, delete, and revise to your...

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

Learn how the algorithms behind Tinger, Bumble, Hinge, and other dating apps work

Formerly based on the Elo rating system, which ranks chess players, the Tinder algorithm is built on user data, with more time spent on the app providing more data on user preferences from which to customize potential matches. OkCupid's match percentage algorithm relies on overlaps in users' search preferences and responses to a subset of over 4,000 questions.

How Spotify creates niche genres

One of Spotify's most recognizable features is its playlists. The provider offers an endless stream of strangely titled mixes with names like "Hyperpop," "Phonk," and "Lorem," which suggest uniform genres and scenes despite featuring seemingly random assortments of artists and songs. This article unpacks why Spotify organizes its music in this way and how, unintentionally, the process erases organic movements that developed outside of the app.

A Hitchcock film has been adapted for a new demographic: smartphone users

Hitchcock's "The Lodger," a silent film from 1927, has been adapted for Tattle TV, a video app featuring "vertical microdramas" aimed at smartphone users looking for bite-sized stories.

Gut microbiome rewrites may help reduce allergies

Researchers are investigating different strategies to determine if one day they could give people a combination of gut microbes to set them up for fewer allergies. In animal research, scientists have already prevented severe allergic responses in allergy-prone mice—supplying them with gut microbes from healthy, non-allergic human babies.

Tour Tencent's sprawling headquarters focused on tech and health

Tencent has a massive headquarters in China to match its sizable market capitalization. Featuring 40% less carbon consumption and emissions, the building features facial recognition for security, swimming pools and a fitness track, time management apps, and more.

In recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

A pickleball's loud 'pop' sound can reach 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a hammer hitting a nail

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO