Red light therapy devices promise quieter tinnitus through improved circulation or calmed nerve activity — but what does the actual research say? Dr. Layne Garrett walks through three separate reviews published between 2022 and 2025 that reach different conclusions: one calls the evidence "debatable," another reads it as "generally positive," and the most recent finds short-term improvement that mostly fades within three to six months. The bigger issue isn't whether the light does anything — it's that most consumer devices sell treatment before anyone has evaluated what's actually driving the tinnitus. Dr. Garrett, founder of Timpanogos Hearing & Tinnitus and a specialist in tinnitus and complex hearing loss for more than two decades, explains why evaluation has to come first, and what actually has evidence behind it: properly fitted hearing aids, sound therapy, CBT, and Lenire bimodal neuromodulation.

Learning Center — https://utahhearingaids.com/learning-center

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Signia's new Charge&Go MaX arrived this fall as the boldest AI hearing aid claim of the year: four separate deep neural networks running at once and a headline figure of 97% of wearers hearing better in noisy groups. In this episode, Dr. Layne Garrett — a Doctor of Audiology with more than 20 years fitting every major manufacturer — separates the engineering from the evidence. He's worn MaX for a week and started fitting patients, and his early read is measured: excellent through a live performance, different but not clearly better in a loud lobby. He explains how to read a manufacturer's 97% claim, why the chip numbers compare to Signia's own prior IX platform rather than competitors, the Auracast feature you can't use until 2027, and why smarter automation makes real ear measurement matter more, not less. If you struggle to hear in restaurants, wonder whether AI hearing aids actually help in noise, or are weighing this year's releases, this is a grounded, medical-model take from a specialist who verifies every fitting.

"You just have to live with it" is now something the tinnitus guideline tells clinicians to avoid saying. In this episode, Dr. Layne Garrett, Au.D., FAAA, CH-TM, goes through the October 2026 update from the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation.

What we cover:
- What changed since 2014
- Why a hearing evaluation is now recommended for everyone with tinnitus
- The jaw and neck connection (somatosensory tinnitus)
- Hearing aids, CBT, and bimodal neuromodulation (Lenire, FDA approved)
- Sound therapy, from a bedside fan to a structured clinician-guided program
- What the guideline recommends against
- What good tinnitus care looks like in practice

Visit our Online Learning Center here.

You can schedule an appointment in one of clinics in Utah.