Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice, and is just the opinion of the writer(s) and published for informational purposes only. We recommend that patients follow their doctor’s guidance in regard to treating tinnitus.
Tinnitus 911 is a dietary supplement for treating tinnitus, which is the medical term for a consistent ringing sound in the ears. The supplement is manufactured by Phytage Labs, the same manufacturer of Nerve Control 911, which we recently reviewed unfavorably. We’re curious if this product’s formulation will be better.
In this article we’ll review the ingredients in Tinnitus 911 based on published medical research to determine if we would recommend it as a safe and effective supplement for treating tinnitus. We’ll also highlight their Medical Research section.
Informative Medical Research Section
The product page of Tinnitus 911 has a Medical Research section (found by clicking a “View Clinical Research” button towards the end of the page) which is actually a useful resource of studies on some of the herbs in Tinnitus 911.
What’s interesting is this is totally contrary to what we found on Nerve Control 911’s product page. That page had links out to several websites which just broadly overviewed the plant compound, while most of the research in this section is legitimate clinical research suggesting that one or more of the ingredients in the formulation may be effective for tinnitus.
As an example, they link out to a medical review of botanical compounds used for treating tinnitus which is quite informative. The authors review clinical data on many individual compounds with research backing for treating tinnitus, some of which are included in the Tinnitus 911 formulation.
We find this to be a big step up from the Medical Research section for Nerve Control 911, and suggests this may be a better-formulated product.
Ingredient Review
Tinnitus 911 contains 12 active ingredients. The first is Vitamin C at a dosage of 60 milligrams (mg). The medical study which Phytage Labs included in their research section on this ingredient used many other antioxidants such as glycerophosphorylcholine rather than Vitamin C alone. We cannot locate any medical research suggesting that Vitamin C alone is effective at improving symptoms of tinnitus so we will consider this a potentially ineffective ingredient.
Vitamin B6 is the second-listed ingredient at a 5 mg dose. We cannot identify any medical trials proving this ingredient effective for treating tinnitus, and the study provided by Phytage Labs simply states that this vitamin “is commonly used as a treatment” for tinnitus. That doesn’t prove it’s effective, so we’ll consider this a potentially ineffective ingredient.
Niacin is the next ingredient and this one has more promise. A medical review of tinnitus treatments noted that niacin has been used in a medical study from 1944 to successfully treat around 50% of tinnitus patients. No dose is published and this is an incredibly old study, but we’ll consider this ingredient potentially effective.
Vitamin B12 is another B vitamin in this formulation, and there is some research backing this ingredient. A medical study published in the Noise & Health journal found that Vitamin B12 levels improved tinnitus on average. However, the patients who had a therapeutic benefit from Vitamin B12 supplementation were deficient in B12, and the study was completed in India, which is a primarily vegetarian country with typically higher levels of Vitamin B12 deficiency than Western countries.
A study which was better-designed in our opinion found no effect of B12 supplementation on tinnitus. Thus we will conclude that Vitamin B12 is unlikely to be effective for treating tinnitus unless the patient is deficient in Vitamin B12.
Three of the active ingredients in Tinnitus 911 (hibiscus flower, juniper berry, and buchu leaves) only have a shared citation in Phytage Labs’ research section, which is to a list called “Dr. Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases.” This is quite a strange document. It provides no explanation of who Dr. Duke is and how the “activity count” (which is what the herbs are categorized by) in terms of treating tinnitus is qualified.
This resource does appear to come from a legitimate medical database maintained by the U.S. government, it’s just a very strange and poorly-explained document. We’ll consider these ingredients potentially effective.
Green tea extract is an ingredient at a very low dose of 15 mg. Phytage Labs does not link to medical research to back this ingredient, but rather to a book called “Diet for Tinnitus” written by two people with no apparent medical credentials. This is low quality research and we will consider this ingredient ineffective.
Hawthorne berry is another ingredient with a strange citation in Phytage Labs’ research section. It doesn’t even mention this botanical in the context of tinnitus. Thus we will conclude that this ingredient is likely ineffective.
We cannot find any medical evidence suggesting that the final three ingredients (Folic acid, garlic, olive leaf) are effective for treating tinnitus, and Phytage Labs doesn’t even share any research on garlic or folic acid in their Clinical Research section, so we’ll consider all three ingredients ineffective.
Overall we find this to be a poor-to-mediocre supplement formulation in that we couldn’t locate medical studies backing many of the ingredients. However, there is at least research backing for some of the ingredients, especially if you consider the Ethnobotanical Database to be accurate.
One benefit of this supplement is it contains no harmful additive ingredients like added flavorings or preservatives which are common.
Why We Don’t Recommend Tinnitus Supplements
Tinnitus is a medical condition that doesn’t seem best treated by dietary supplements based on the current state of the science in our opinion. There isn’t an overwhelming amount of studies on herbs or vitamins for treating tinnitus, so we feel that this condition is best treated with the help of your doctor.
Tinnitus can have various causes, and we believe that trying to run tests to identify the root cause would lead to more favorable outcomes than taking dietary supplements for this condition. These comments don’t only apply to Tinnitus 911 but to all supplements in this category.
We actually made similar comments in our Nerve Control 911 review, and we find it interesting and somewhat strange that Phytage Labs seems to formulate supplements for conditions that aren’t typically treated or managed with supplements.
No Public Team
Phytage Labs does not appear to have a public team page on their website. Their About Us page makes general claims about the company, but there is no information about who the founder is or what scientists and researchers are on the team.
We consider this a red flag and generally recommend that consumers are cautious purchasing health supplements from brands without clearly identified teams.
Our reasoning here is basic logic: if a founder and team were excited and proud about the product they were bringing to market, they would want to be publicly associated with the brand. This also builds transparency and trust with users. No users prefer private/hidden teams.
So when a brand, especially a health brand, chooses to not make clear who’s actually behind the brand and products, we find it a bit strange and don’t consider it a good sign. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong with the product or brand; it’s just a red flag that the company isn’t transparently sharing this information.
Tinnitus 911 User Reviews
Tinnitus 911 has an underwhelming overall Amazon rating of 2.9 out of 5 stars. The good news is that FakeSpot gives the product an A grade, which means the reviews are likely legitimate and free of manipulation. FakeSpot is an algorithm which detects potentially fraudulent Amazon reviews and assigns a score to products based on the degree of manipulation. It’s a good sign that Phytage Labs doesn’t appear to be engaging in review fraud, because many companies are and many Amazon products would have similar overall scores to this one (or worse) if the fake reviews were removed.
The top positive review from a verified purchaser is written by “Sheila” who claims that the supplement reduced their suffering from tinnitus:
“I took the first bottle and it helped to the point where there were some periods of time where I was free of the sound. And the sound was greatly reduced after 3 weeks.”
The top negative review from a verified purchaser is from a user named “Robert L.” who claims the product is not effective at all:
“Product does not work as advertised. I feel sorry for those who wasted time watching the misleading video on the products site. I feel anyone who sells this is ripping people off and has a bad moral compass.”
Review From A Doctor
One of the most informative and unsponsored reviews of Tinnitus 911 comes from a doctor whose entire YouTube channel is devoted to analyzing tinnitus products for efficacy. The creator’s channel is called “Ben Thompson, AuD - Treble Health” and the video is timestamped below for the time he begins discussing Tinnitus 911:
