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VA Now Covers Cost of the Levo System for Tinnitus Treatment
www.prnewswire.com ^ | Feb 26, 2019, 08:38 ET | Otoharmonics Corporation

Posted on 03/01/2019 6:21:26 AM PST by Red Badger

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Otoharmonics Corporation, a U.S. veteran-owned company offering sound therapy for tinnitus management, has been awarded a five-year Federal Supply Schedule Medical Equipment and Supply contract, making Levo available immediately to patients receiving care within the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Bureau of Prisons, Indian Heads Services, and Public Health Services.

Compatible with the Clinical Practice Guidelines for Tinnitus published by the American Academy of

Otolaryngologists and the VA's Progressive Tinnitus Management Program, the Levo System's sleep therapy has been shown to reduce the level of tinnitus intensity and improve the quality of life in several published peer-reviewed studies, including a randomized controlled study by the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research at the VA Portland Health Care System.

"Increasing access to affordable, evidence-based tinnitus care for U.S. service men and women has been an ongoing focus for Otoharmonics," said Michael Baker, CEO. "The FSS award is a significant step towards expanding care within this underserved patient population."

Tinnitus is the number one service-related disability among U.S. veterans, according to the American Tinnitus Association. An often-overlooked outcome of active duty, tinnitus is typically a result of exposure to loud noise. Whether it's from a high noise environment such as flight, use of heavy machinery, or being near severe and sudden explosives, the effects of tinnitus can be long-lasting. Left untreated, symptoms may increase over time and significantly impact the quality of life.

The Levo System is an FDA-cleared medical device that works in concert with the brain's natural restorative and learning processes. Designed for home use, those suffering from buzzing or ringing in the ears listen to personalized sound therapy while sleeping to gain relief. Over time, the brain learns to ignore the tinnitus perception, resulting in a reduction of tinnitus intensity and negative impact.

About Otoharmonics Corporation Otoharmonics Corporation is a privately held company with headquarters in Portland, Oregon USA. As an international team of world–class neuroscientists, clinicians, business professionals, and patients, Otoharmonics has developed the Levo System for tinnitus management, which is specifically designed for use during sleep. The FDA-cleared system utilizes Apple mobile digital devices to offer user-friendly custom sound therapy based on the specific needs of the individual. To learn more visit http://otoharmonics.com or call 503.336.9906.

Otoharmonics and Levo are registered trademarks of Otoharmonics Corporation.

Media contact: Brenda Edin 209941@email4pr.com 503-336-9906

SOURCE Otoharmonics Corporation Related Links

http://otoharmonics.com


TOPICS: Education; Health/Medicine; Military/Veterans; Society
KEYWORDS: deaf; ear; hearing; levosystem; medicaldevice; sleeptherapy; tinnitus; va
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To: xvq2er

I was in the USN as well...flight decks x 4 years too...but I always suspected that was only a part of it. I have had a lot of loud noises in my life with no hearing protection enough to make my ears ring, not to mention loud music.

I admit it. I liked loud noise...I used to take my ear protection off just to hear how loud something actually was. (Loudest airplane I always felt was the A-6 Intruder, it had a very sharp high frequency type of engine noise at military power)

When I lived in Japan and was about nine years old, I remember being on one side of the base fence near the Mikasa (an old Japanese Dreadnaught) with a bunch of Japanese kids on the other side, and we were both lighting firecrackers and throwing them over the fence at each other, I reared back to throw one and it went off in my hand right near my ear! It was painful, and my ear rang for a long time after that!

I have no idea how any combat veteran (or infantryman/artilleryman in any service) could somehow not have had their hearing completely destroyed.

It seems to me that in combat, having ear protection of any kind might run counter to your survival!

Never mind simply being out at the target range. I am sure they mandate ear protection now, but I will be that even into the Seventies or Eighties, they didn’t make you wear anything.


61 posted on 03/01/2019 9:25:04 AM PST by rlmorel (If racial attacks were as common as the Left wants you to think, they wouldn't have to make them up.)
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To: Bonemaker

Was given some industrial strength ear plugs once, while helping out with the church teen group. They would play their band so loud, it was impossible to hear yourself think. They just looked like the little orange foam plugs like you can get at any sporting goods department, but unlike those, they completely blocked all sound. I could hear NOTHING, with those ear plugs.


62 posted on 03/01/2019 9:27:37 AM PST by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing))
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To: Yo-Yo

Now, that is funny, but as seriously as it affects some people, I wonder if anyone has done just that.

Like another poster said, though...can you imagine if you had your auditory nerve severed, but...you still ended up with ringing in that ear?

I think I can make out three different frequency tones right now...it’s odd. I have one frequency in my left ear, another in my right, and there is a third one that sounds like it is in both or neither.

I wonder if the third one is some kind of frequency formed in my brain by the harmonizing frequency of the two? I have no idea how that happens if it does.

On a different note, my wife wants to see that movie “Eternity’s Gate” where Van Gough is played by Willem Dafoe...and he looks exactly like him (or how I thought he would look)


63 posted on 03/01/2019 9:30:27 AM PST by rlmorel (If racial attacks were as common as the Left wants you to think, they wouldn't have to make them up.)
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To: Red Badger
My work computer firewall filtered out your pic.....................

Interesting. It is a pic of a 155mm Howitzer (#4 gun, A battery) in full charge 7 recoil in the central highlands of Vietnam. The photo is on my FR home page and is hosted at the 1/92nd Artillery Vietnam homepage. http://www.bravecannons.org/

I can't imagine why it would be blocked.

64 posted on 03/01/2019 9:31:51 AM PST by Chuckster (Nevermind)
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To: rlmorel
But occasionally, it seems to just “turn on”

My experience is similar to yours, overall. Sometimes it will start with a loud screech or whistle in one ear or the other. Some times it's just a mild hiss, barely noticeable, but always there in the background and other times...

Well, you know.

For me it's a major inconvenience but I have heard that for some it is enough to drive one to suicide.

65 posted on 03/01/2019 9:41:15 AM PST by Chuckster (Nevermind)
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To: oh8eleven

“I’ve had the white noise aids for three years now and they’re a Godsend.”

My Tinnitus came on like flicking a light switch. Then 78 hours without sleep - emergency room - knocked out - drugs.....Then audiologist had me try Widex hearing aids with programmable chromatic noise that pushed the Tin into the background. A real life saver. Paid 7.5K, would have paid 50k, they saved my life.


66 posted on 03/01/2019 9:48:15 AM PST by OregonRancher (Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints)
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To: Manuel OKelley

Tinnitus worse in a silent setting. Put a small fan in your room, set on low, sleep comes much easier.


67 posted on 03/01/2019 9:52:22 AM PST by OregonRancher (Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints)
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To: rlmorel

First, I am sorry.

You’re a tough dude for joking about it at the end of your post.

And I didn’t know how DIFFERENT each’s experience could be.

That doesn’t happen to me.

It’s supposed to work that lots of noise around drowns it out and that is what happens to me.

Sometime JUST to end the pulsating and noises, i will BLAST music near my ear because the brain will pick up the stronger noise and it masks the tinnnitus.

I guess everyone’s experience is different.

But I can say for certain that at 50 I DO NOT want to hear every single one off my heart beats for the rest of my life! :)

The damage to my vestibular system seems to be degenerative.

My left ear is still ok and hopefully will stay that way until my last breath.

Honest, the first 3 years after the brain injury were so terrifying that this is absolutely manageable.

Gee, if felt good to type this. Cathartic.

Sorry you were the one it was sent to!!

I wish you well FRiend.


68 posted on 03/01/2019 10:25:42 AM PST by dp0622 (The Left should know if.. Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: OregonRancher
Paid 7.5K, would have paid 50k, they saved my life.
I was looking at aids in the $4K-$5K range. Yikes! Then a veteran buddy of mine turned me on to the VA.
They determined my T was a result of 13 months in combat (USMC arty), and a covered disability. Saved me a fortune and saved my sanity.
I don't care if this new Levo System doesn't work for everyone. Even if there's only a 10% chance, and the VA pays, I'm going for it.
69 posted on 03/01/2019 10:50:36 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: Red Badger

In all likelihood it isn’t for all vets, only those with service connected hearing loss.


70 posted on 03/01/2019 11:21:56 AM PST by Paal Gulli
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To: Flaming Conservative

We had a elderly lady at church that her hearing aids would squeal loudly, she was so deaf people had to tap her aids and do a high thumbs up until she understood they were squealing. She needed the newer ones, but no money for them. I have a Mid range pair, 1 up 1 down in volume. They need adjusted and new tips put on. The last ones got stuck in my ear canals. Kroger’s Little Clinic had to fish them out. LOL


71 posted on 03/01/2019 1:08:17 PM PST by GailA (PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, GET OVER IT SNOWFLAKES.)
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To: dp0622

Yep, mine is so loud it drowns out the TV. It gets painful. Personally I think it’s a pinched nerve out of the C disc. I have ear/head pain that comes from that. C3-7 are badly damaged.


72 posted on 03/01/2019 1:25:44 PM PST by GailA (PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, GET OVER IT SNOWFLAKES.)
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To: Red Badger

Mine is a couple of high pitched whines which I’ve had all my life.

An effect of pot smoking was a feeling of a pipe organ two feet tall blaring away on the back of my shirt collar.


73 posted on 03/01/2019 1:44:48 PM PST by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: dp0622

I have had tinnitus for thirty years or more, it sometimes becomes very soft and other times much louder and sometimes I become unaware of it for a while. The only time in recent years that it has gone away for a week or so is back in 2009 when my wife and I went with a family group to spend a full week at the beach and I went for a long swim every day in the ocean and even went swimming in the morning and again in the afternoon one day. By the end of the week my tinnitus was gone and only reappeared about ten days after returning home.

So far I have coped with it without becoming depressed but some people actually do commit suicide because of this.


74 posted on 03/01/2019 4:47:35 PM PST by RipSawyer (I need some green first and then we'll talk a new deal!)
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To: RipSawyer

Swimming? Interesting.

Came back after 10 days.

I’m going to do all kinds of research on that! The salt in the water, the water itself, something happened!

Yeah I ALWAYS hear mine and the heartbeat is an extra curse. :)

So let me get this straight. I’m almost deaf but I can hear my own heartbeat inside of me!

And even if we went deaf the tinnitus would still be there. Because it come from the brain. Whatever that means.

And yes I was on a board once where it was mentioned that a few folks had committed suicide from that.

You are obviously too strong for that to possibly happen.

After 30 years you won’t break now!

I just have been though too much in life so that this isn’t the worst thing i’ve been up against.

Like my father would have said “It is what it is”

It gets worse though as i get more tired.


75 posted on 03/01/2019 4:59:30 PM PST by dp0622 (The Left should know if.. Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: Red Badger

I associate my mild tinnitus with OTC medications. If I take ibuprofen at night, the next day I will notice more tinnitus. Same with acetaminophen and multivitamin/mineral tablets, but their effect is less than ibuprofen.


76 posted on 03/01/2019 9:17:37 PM PST by TChad
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To: Yo-Yo
The ringing has gotten worse now that we have adopted a Chihuahua puppy, and she just learned how to bark. It physically hurts my ear...I wish there was a cure for tinnitus

Well, you could get a real dog....or maybe a cat.

77 posted on 03/02/2019 7:09:56 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (The Obama is about to hit the fan.)
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To: dp0622
I’m almost deaf but I can hear my own heartbeat inside of me!

So can I, especially if I look up.

Our carotid arteries are in very close proximity to our inner ears. Atherosclerotic plaque formation can exacerbate pulsatile tinnitus.

78 posted on 03/02/2019 7:37:16 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (The Obama is about to hit the fan.)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

THAT’S the part that really sucks!

Sorry you suffer from it too.

I wonder what goes wrong that we hear it though?

I’ve had heart tests and artery images because of this very problem.

Docs decided it’s just damage from old head injury and I’ve had it for many years now.

Almost wish it was something wrong with an artery that they could fix.


79 posted on 03/02/2019 7:40:28 AM PST by dp0622 (The Left should know if.. Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER
Well, you could get a real dog....or maybe a cat.

Have a cat. Have had dogs forever, but when our German Shepherd died, I said I was through. The kids are gone, and with the dogs gone we aren't tied down anymore and could come and go as we pleased.

However, I also want to keep my wife, who has been insisting on a dog for two years, so there you go.

80 posted on 03/02/2019 7:46:08 AM PST by Yo-Yo ( is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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