The more I read the studies, the more I get convinced that LOFT makes sense even for somebody who has a marginal loss like me. I would like to explain my rationale. I have had tinnitus for 30 years now, but it never bothered me the way that it seems to be bothering some individuals. I know that it drives some people crazy, but that’s not my case; it’s just there covering certain frequencies, with well defined tones.
If one reads the studies that I posted, it becomes apparent that amplification is not solving the problem. The article clearly states that if there is a problem discriminating between two nearby frequencies, just amplifying the same two frequencies will not solve the discrimination because the the ear has a problem telling them apart at low volume and at high volume. Therefore the only solution is moving both frequencies to a range where they can be discriminated. Moving everything by one octave is the way our hearing works: if I play music and in the page of the score I move my hands to play the piano on the nearby octave, or two octaves, everybody will still think I’m playing the same music (and it is).
The other huge point made in the OP article (did any body here read it, instead of beating each other?), is that the research points out to the fact that 81% of participants had benefits on their tinnitus problem chronically (that means for a long time). So if I can get rid of some portion of my tinnitus, then perhaps my brain will not create the whistling that I hear all the time. Will that further improve my hearing situation and discrimination? I don’t know, but I intend to try.
