Andy Smith 00:00 
A quick disclaimer before we begin, the PEMF podcast does not contain any medical advice and the content provided is for informational purposes only. If you have any health concerns, please visit a healthcare professional. Welcome back to the PEMF podcast. Today we're talking about a symptom that affects millions of people worldwide and can have a huge impact on daily life, tinnitus. If you've ever experienced that constant ringing, buzzing, humming or watched someone you care about struggle with it, you'll know how draining, distracting and frustrating it can be. In this episode, we're going to look at where PEMF might fit into the wider conversation around tinnitus support as a tool that may help with some of the underlying factors that influence how tinnitus is experienced. So today we're going to be digging into the science, the studies and the practical ways PEMF is being used as part of the broader wellbeing toolkit for people navigating tinnitus.

Joshua Roberts 01:01 
And a great place to start with this and where we normally start is just to actually understand what actually is tinnitus.

Andy Smith 01:07 
Yeah tinnitus isn't actually a condition, it's a symptom. It's a perception of sound when no external sound is present, often described as ringing, buzzing, humming, hissing, or a high pitched tone. For some people it's constant, for others it comes and goes. It doesn't always feel like it's in the ear, many people describe it as sounding happening somewhere outside the head.

Joshua Roberts 01:28 

What actually causes tinnitus as well? Is it a standalone cause or is it kind of a variety of things that could cause it?

Andy Smith 01:34 
There isn't actually one standalone cause. Tinnitus is an umbrella symptom. It can arise from many different factors, including noise exposure, stress, hearing changes, jaw or neck tension, circulation, or just the way the brain processes sound signals. Because so many systems are involved, auditory, neurological, emotional, the experience varies widely between individuals and often doesn't trace back to one single source.

Joshua Roberts 01:58 
No, amazing. And what are kind of like the common treatments that you might find or get for tinnitus?

Andy Smith 02:04 
Tinnitus doesn't have one single treatment because it isn't one condition as we mentioned it's a symptom with many different potential triggers. So most approaches therefore focus on reducing how noticeable the sound feels or managing the factors that may influence it. Sound therapy is one of the most common tools. Tinnitus retraining therapy builds on this by pairing sound with guided support to help the brain interpret tinnitus as a neutral signal and cognitive behavioral therapy is often used to reduce the emotional intensity around the experience because stress can amplify tinnitus. Many people explore nervous system supportive practices such as better sleep routines, breath work, meditation, relaxation techniques or even PEMF which we'll get onto later. And physical contributors like jaw tension, neck stiffness or posture can also play a role meaning physiotherapy or jaw work may form part of the overall approach.

Joshua Roberts 02:57 
And we'll start getting into the PEMF side of it now. And for anyone who hasn't heard of PEMF before, just what is it in 30 seconds?

Andy Smith 03:05 
PEMF therapy which stands for pulse electromagnetic field therapy is a non-invasive drug-free and natural treatment that uses pulse electromagnetic fields to stimulate the body's natural healing processes and that creates the optimal environment within the body to heal.

Joshua Roberts 03:20 
OK, great. And we know that tinnitus isn't condition specific and neither is PEMF. But has there been any kind of studies into PEMF being used for tinnitus?

Andy Smith 03:31 
Yeah, one study explored whether PEMF applied over the mastoid bone could influence tinnitus symptoms. The mastoid sits directly behind the ear, close to the auditory pathways, which makes it an interesting location for researchers to apply PEMF. This double-blind placebo control trial involved 58 people from the Liverpool Tinnitus Association, all with the long-standing tinnitus. Participants were randomly given either an active device or a placebo device and used it for one week. At the end of the trial, 45% of those using the active device reported an improvement in their tinnitus compared to just 9% in the placebo group, a statistically significant difference. The authors suggested that electromagnetic stimulation may be helpful for some tinnitus sufferers, but also highlight the need for a larger, more detailed study to understand how it works and who might benefit.

Joshua Roberts 04:23 
Yeah, and hopefully they will do more studies on it soon and we'll maybe be able to narrow down who exactly it could benefit more, like what causes of the tinnitus it might benefit more, but talking about studies, was that all for PEMF and tinnitus studies or are there any more?

Andy Smith 04:37 
Yet another study including 16 people with chronic tinnitus received PEMF using a system applied to the back of the head at 50 gauss. The researchers recorded the ECG brainwave activity before and after treatment, looking at different frequency bands like delta, theta, alpha and beta, while the patients rested with their eyes closed in a quiet insulated room designed to block out any other background noise. After the PEMF sessions they found a significant increase in overall ECG power, particularly in the slower delta and theta and alpha bands, mainly in the frontal brain regions. The shift in brain activity was accompanied by improvements in tinnitus related questionnaires, including measures of loudness, concentration, annoyance, sleep and emotional distress. The authors concluded that PEMF therapy appeared to change brainwave patterns in a way that correlated with reduced tinnitus symptoms. The study mainly supports the idea that tinnitus is closely linked to how the brain is firing and not just what's happening inside the ear.

Joshua Roberts 05:43 
That's really interesting, actually, that the lower intensities did achieve a better result. Maybe it was a knock-on effect of maybe them being a little bit more relaxing and the person feeling more relaxed and not having, as I say, a knock-on effect on their tinnitus. But there's also one more study that was worth noting. It does only include one person. But as I say, it was worth mentioning. And what was that study?

Andy Smith 06:05 
Yeah, this is a good one, actually. It was involved in a 68-year-old woman who came into a chiropractor clinic with a long history of challenges, including anxiety, depression, chronic neck and back pain, constant moderate tinnitus, sleep difficulties and poor concentration. She also had a background of a significant car accident years earlier, along with postural changes, small vessel ishemia and degenerative changes in her spine and jaw. Over six weeks, she received 16 one-hour PMS sessions using a high-intensity system. The team used low frequencies, between 1.5 and 7.8 Hz, with the intensity kept at a level she found comfortable. Before and after the treatment period, she completed questionnaires assessing pain, anxiety and depression. By the end of the six weeks, her scores for anxiety and depression had improved dramatically. Her pain levels had reduced and she personally reported sleeping more deeply, feeling more alert and noticing a significant reduction in her tinnitus. This was only a single case study, not a controlled trial, so the findings can be generalised, but it does reinforce something that we see repeatedly. Tinnitus rarely exists on its own. It's often overlapped with stress, sleep disruption, tension, emotional load and neurological patterns. When someone works on overwhelming and nervous system regulation, which is one reason people explore PEMF, there can sometimes be a knock-on effect and how tinnitus is experienced, even if therapy isn't targeted tinnitus directly.

Joshua Roberts 07:40 
And yeah, no, definitely it's the same with even some other conditions that you might use PEMF for. It might not be targeting the conditions specifically, but where it has other effects, it then kind of has a knock on positive effect to what you're actually trying to achieve. And talking about kind of the more general, broader effects of PEMF, what are some of these that can help people who are suffering with tinnitus?

Andy Smith 08:04 
Yeah, when we look at tinnitus more broadly, many of the factors that influence how loud or intrusive tinnitus feels have a very little to do with the ear itself, and a lot more to do with the overall well-being of someone. This is where some of the general effects of PEMF become more relevant. People commonly use PEMF to support relaxation, improve general circulation, and help the nervous system shift out of a heightened stress state into a calmer, more balanced one. Because tinnitus often spikes during periods of stress, fatigue, or poor sleep, these effects can really matter. Many people report that PEMF helps them unwind at the end of the day and feel more relaxed and sleep more deeply. We actually always find that the most common feedback we get after the first day of using PEMF is improved sleep or just generally better sleep. Just that alone can make tinnitus feel less intrusive. The same applies to stress. Lower frequency PEMF settings are also used specifically to help people relax and to reduce internal tension. And another area that connects tinnitus is musculoskeletal tightness, especially around the neck and jaw. These regions serve nerve pathways with the auditory system, so tension here can sometimes act as a trigger. Many PEMF users target these areas to help reduce stiffness or discomfort which may indirectly influence how the tinnitus feels. So while PEMF isn't a tinnitus treatment and it isn't working on the ear itself, its broader effects on stress, sleep, relaxation, and musculoskeletal tension can create a more settled internal environment and that in turn can influence how symptoms like tinnitus are perceived.

Joshua Roberts 09:48 
Yeah, so PEMF can help with kind of a broad range of reasons why tinnitus could be triggered. As we say, while it's not directly acting on the tinnitus itself, it is in turn having that positive effect through supporting you in other areas. But now talking about kind of applications, specification, kind of devices that you might use for tinnitus, what is a way that someone might actually apply PEMF for tinnitus?

Andy Smith 10:14 
Yeah, when it comes to application, as always, a full-body mat is usually the best and ideal place to start. It allows you to support the whole body rather than just focusing on one area, which is helpful when the triggers behind tinnitus can vary so widely from person to person and can sometimes be unknown. To target the whole body makes way more sense than nothing gets missed. For tinnitus specifically, it's even more beneficial if the device has a localized applicator. So like a two-in-one setup, the mat covers a general whole body side of things and then the smaller applicator gives you the option to target maybe like the head, the jaw, upper neck areas or wherever you find it most beneficial to target, which that can be relevant depending on what's contributing to the tinnitus. It's also helpful too if the local applicator can be used independently from the mat. That way, if somebody finds that direct sessions around the head or neck actually work best for them, then they can run those without needing to use the full-body mat every single time. And if the applicator is rechargeable and portable, for example, that adds even more flexibility. It means someone can then get short, supportive sessions on the go. Using the device wherever their symptoms may feel more noticeable or when they just need a little bit of additional regulation throughout the day.

Joshua Roberts 11:34 
And yeah, like, as always, a two in one device is normally the best way to go with PEMF. It just gives you the ultimate amount of flexibility and the ability to really use it in whatever way you need to. But then kind of now stepping into more specifications. What about frequency? What kind of frequency ranges? Would it be ideal that the device.

Andy Smith 11:53 
can run. Yeah there isn't one magic tinnitus frequency like for every condition but the research we've talked about does give some clues. In the ECG study they used PEMF therapy to apply it and they applied that at the back of the head and they measured brainwaves before and after treatment. What they saw was a significant increase in the slower bands including Delta which is 1 to 4 Hertz, Theta which is 4 to 8 Hertz and the Alpha which is 8 to 12 Hertz. Those are the same bands we tend to associate with deeper relaxation, reduced arousal and calmer nervous system. The authors essentially showed that this kind of stimulation could shift the brain away from a hyper aroused pattern into something softer and more regulated which in their patients correlated with a reduction in tinnitus distress. Even in high intensity case the study they used very low frequencies between 1.5 Hertz and 7.8. Again this sits right in the range we normally think of as a relaxation and down shifting the nervous system. So we look to translate that into what that would look like in the PEMF device. It makes sense to have access to a lower end of the spectrum roughly in the 1 to 10 Hertz zone. So you can run programs aimed at calming, sleep and deep relaxation. Above that it's useful if the device can also cover a gentle mid-range frequencies for more general daytime use but the tinnitus related work having these slow brainwave adjacent settings available particularly relevant. Not because they treat tinnitus directly but because they're in the most likely range to nudge the brain and nervous system into the kind of state that in the studies was associated with people experiencing their tinnitus as less intrusive.

Joshua Roberts 13:39 
Yeah, so kind of look for a device that can run delta, theta, alpha, all in that kind of one to 10, one to 12 range. It's pretty easy to find the device and can run that pretty much. All PEMF devices do do that. But now looking at kind of other specifications, the one that always comes up next is intensity. Is there kind of any specific intensity that you might recommend or say look for when it comes to tinnitus?

Andy Smith 14:04 
When we look back at the research, we see a mixture of intensities being used. Some studies used systems capable of very high intensities, while others use much more moderate levels. But for the average home user, a medium intensity device is usually more than sufficient for this kind of application. Medium intensities are generally considered the sweet spot for everyday PEMF use and have been shown to create the most cellular response. If someone's tinnitus is linked to things like neck tension or jaw tightness, then the higher intensity device might sometimes be more helpful, simply because those intensities tend to give a more instant response in the area due to the muscle activation and the pain blocking effects. But in almost all cases, for the broader support, like we've talked about, including relaxation, nervous system regulation, sleep, overall circulation, then a medium intensity device around 10 to 100 gauss is perfect. And we've already seen in the studies, the frequency appears to play a much more central role than intensity when it comes to these kind of brain state shifts that were associated with improvements in tinnitus perception. So high intensity can have its place for some people, but for the majority exploring PEMF at home, a solid medium intensity device is usually the most balanced and suitable option.

Joshua Roberts 15:27 
So yeah, once again, kind of like almost all home use situations, a medium intensity device is normally the better way to go. But now we know the application frequency intensity. What really kind of matters the most out of any of this?

Andy Smith 15:41 
At the end of the day, as always, the single biggest factor is consistency. With PEMF, especially for something as complex, as multi-layered as tinnitus, it's not about chasing the perfect intensity or obsessing over one setting. It's about using the device regularly enough to give the body time to respond. Across PEMF research in general, this tends to be incredibly consistent. Most studies run for at least two weeks and many of them note benefits continue to build over longer periods, such as four weeks or even more. When you look specifically at the tinnitus research, the same pattern shows up. The mastoid stimulation trial used daily sessions for a week. The ECG study involved repeated stimulation across several days before a measurable brainwave changes were appearing. And at the longer end, the case study with the 68-year-old woman also was used 16 one-hour sessions over six weeks, which is much more reflective on the timeline seen in broader PEMF research. None of these outcomes came from a single one-off session and all came from repeated exposure over time. For home users, a realistic routine might look like daily short sessions, perhaps once a day in the morning for 20 to 30 minutes or at least several sessions per week. The key is maintaining a rhythm that supports the nervous system consistency rather than dipping in and out. So while frequency, intensity, and application all matter, the real driver of meaningful change is sticking with over weeks, sticking with it over weeks and months, not days. PEMF as always works best when it becomes part of somebody's routine. That's when the body has the best chance to settle, regulate, and respond to those.

Joshua Roberts 17:28 
And in some of the studies they also tracked their progress to kind of get more kind of actual data rather than just kind of judging it off how they feel. What is some ways that people might actually be able to kind of track at home? A lot of people might not have any CG machine and so what are kind of some simple ways people can kind of track their process progress with PEMF and tinnitus.

Andy Smith 17:51 
Yeah, it's a great question because tracking tinnitus can feel quite tricky for a lot of people. It's not like a migraine where you can measure how strong the pain feels. With tinnitus, the sound is internal and changes from day to day quite frequently. So the key is to keep things simple but consistent. One of the best ways is to keep a short daily or weekly log instead of focusing purely on the loudness of the sound, which can fluctuate naturally. It's often more helpful to track the factors that influence how intrusive tinnitus feels. Things like stress levels, sleep quality, concentration, and how much the tinnitus is affecting your mood or daily routine. You can also note moments where it feels less noticeable. Time of day when it's calmer or situations that seem to trigger spikes. Some people like to use a simple one to 10 scale for tinnitus intrusiveness or just how much it bothered you that day. Others like to track things like jaw tension, neck stiffness, or anxiety levels because all of those can be relevant for most people. The important thing is to start logging this one to two weeks before you begin PEMF. So you have a clear baseline, then keep tracking over the following weeks because changes with PEMF tend to show up gradually rather than overnight. Small shifts like better sleep, fewer stress spikes, shorter episodes, or more quiet moments throughout the day are often the first signs people notice. Having those written down makes it much easier to see whether patterns are changing over time and whether PEMF is helping you to feel calmer, more settled, and less affected by the sound.

Joshua Roberts 19:29 
And yeah, it's exactly that you don't need a really complex way to kind of track your tinnitus. You just need to kind of track some basic areas kind of on a one to 10 scale. And as Andy said, keep a kind of baseline before you start PEMF, just so you can kind of see a before and after. But yourself, have you ever actually had any kind of success stories with customers or anything like that of anyone who has used PEMF for tinnitus?

Andy Smith 19:53 
Well, yeah, actually, like you mentioned, Tinnitus is one of them ones that actually maybe people don't buy a PEMF device for initially, but they report that their Tinnitus is reduced. And this has happened personally to me with a couple of friends, actually, and family members. So in a previous life, I was a DJ and one of my best friends, he still DJs now. And he plays his sound incredibly loud and he suffered with Tinnitus his whole life. It's something that really affects people and probably everyone listening to this episode. We know somebody with Tinnitus. My mum even had Tinnitus and she had Tinnitus for a number of years. I think she said to me before it was over 20 years. And this was one of them stories where she started using one of our full body mats and she was just using it for general maintenance, health and wellbeing, and wasn't really thinking about the Tinnitus at the time. But over the time of using, she's been using the PEMF mats now for years. And she actually mentioned to me that she doesn't suffer with Tinnitus at all anymore. It just kind of vanished like over time. It was a real kind of long reduction. But all of a sudden, she just had this light bulb moment that it doesn't affect her anymore. And I remember calling up and asking me whether I thought that PEMF was related to this. And as we've gone through in this episode, for sure, I think that was a byproduct of the PEMFs.

Joshua Roberts 21:17 
That's really another testament to the whole fact that PEMF needs to be used consistently. It's not something that you're going to use once and you're going to have life changing benefits. It will be something that will be over weeks, sometimes months, even in some cases, even years to get to your desired outcome. If you stick with it and be patient, you'll get there in the end. But if anyone's watching this and wants to go and check out any of the studies that we spoke about in this episode, I'll link them all below. As well, while you're down there, make sure to follow, subscribe, leave us a comment if you want us to cover any other conditions, or if you have any general feedback on the episode, let us know down below and we'll either respond to your comments or maybe take some of your advice on board. If you're on all of your platforms as well, make sure to leave us a five star review. It just helps us make more and more of these episodes and get even bigger and better guests on in the future.

Andy Smith 22:06 
Thanks for listening for another episode of the PEMF podcast.