There is a lot of recent medical research suggesting that with SSHL the brain can stop processing the auditory information properly. There are various theories as to why this happens, one is that in a self protective mechanism the ‘re-wires’ itself to stop listening to the bad ear. When ear recovers, the brain can no longer hear. To overcome this, the brain needs to re-learn how to listen. This is the basis of CIST. It is based on therapy for stroke patients how need to re-train their brain after a stroke.

CIST stands for Constrained Induced Sound Therapy.

Essentially you block (constrain) your ‘good’ ear and listen to music through your ‘bad’ ear. This forces your brain to learn to use your bad ear, one theory is that this rebuilds the pathways to your bad ear. The phrase first occurred in this article but was further developed with instructions here. Since then there seems to be no extra research with any new significant information and it hans’t really made its way into general use.

There is lot of accessible information on CIST so I’ve made this website as a place to put my own research in case it’s helpful to others. Please note I am not a doctor. If you want to try CIST or anything described here you should chat with your ENT or GP first.

This website links to some articles about CIST, some instructions on how to do it, and a place for people to leave comments.

Note that CIST is NOT a replacement for anything your doctor suggests like steroid treatments etc.

CIST will most probably not work if there is total hearing loss in your ear. CIST may work if you underwent sudden hearing loss, and your ear has healed but your brain is no longer hearing properly. There is not even language to describe this, so hence this article.

I would start reading some of the articles on CIST.

Then read my protocol.

Then consult with your doctor and adapt it to your own situation