Your skills
A new calming or coping skill is added each module: a small library you build and keep, becoming more automatic over time.
The Guided program · for hyperacusis
A structured way back to sound, with someone in your corner.
A coach-guided, CBT-informed program for hyperacusis and sound sensitivity, based on emerging clinical evidence and translated from the clinical protocol so you can work through it at your own pace, with a coach reading your check-ins each week and writing back. You’re never doing this alone.
Preliminary evidence: one face-to-face RCT; no digital-format trial yet.
- 10 modules
- plus a Getting ready module before you start
- Weekly reply
- a trained coach reads every check-in and writes back
- Your own pace
- no live sessions, no waiting rooms, no schedule
What “Guided” means
Not a class, not an app left alone with you
This approach is strongest when human guidance is included, so Kodama pairs the program with a trained coach who reads your check-ins and writes back. Every module follows the same rhythm.
- Step one
You work through a module
One module at a time. Each builds on the last, so the order matters, but the pace is yours. A module can take a week, or longer.
- Step two
You finish with a short check-in
A few minutes looking back at the week: the sounds you dealt with, what helped, and what didn’t. Your answers are saved securely in Practice Better.
- Step three
Your coach writes back
They reflect what you reported, reinforce the program’s built-in pacing guidance, and point you to the material that fits, without controlling your pace or changing your protocol.
Three threads
Three things run through every module
Rather than starting over each week, three threads carry through the whole program and grow as you go.
Your daily note
A simple daily note of the sounds you dealt with and how you responded. The aim isn’t to score the sound but to notice patterns and show you change you’d otherwise miss.
Your check-ins
A few minutes at the start of each module, looking back at the week. Your coach reads it and writes back.
The modules
Ten steps, in the order they work
Each module targets a specific part of the pattern (understanding, arousal, thoughts, avoidance) and builds toward meeting sound again, gradually and on your terms. The plan below adapts to your kind of sound sensitivity, identified in Getting Ready, so two people can move through the same ten modules at a different pace and emphasis.
Part 01
Understand what is happening
Getting oriented: what hyperacusis is, and the chain between a sound and how much it hurts.
Getting ready
What the program asks, whether now is the time, and your particular kind of sensitivity.
Understanding hyperacusis
What’s actually happening (a gain turned up, not an ear breaking), and your first tool, sound enrichment.
The CBT model for sound sensitivity
The chain between a sound and how much it hurts, and where you can break in.
Part 02
Settle body and mind
Bringing the physical alarm down, and answering the thinking that turns sound into threat.
Settling the body
Progressive muscle relaxation and slow breathing, to bring the physical alarm down.
Working with the thoughts
Catching the alarming thinking that turns sound into threat, and answering it with evidence.
Part 03
Meet sound again
Deliberate, graded contact with sound, planned by you, at a pace you set.
Beginning to meet sound
The first deliberate sessions with sound: settled, on purpose, staying until the wave crests and comes down.
Climbing the ladder
Graded steps back into the places and sounds you’ve been avoiding, each one planned, each one yours.
Part 04
Make it stick
The beliefs underneath, the hardest hours, and a plan for the weeks when things slip.
The beliefs underneath
Following the hot thoughts down to the belief beneath them, and testing that belief against what actually happens.
Sleep and the hard hours
Taking back the night and the hours that are predictably hardest, with sound, a wind-down, and a plan.
Your coping toolkit
Everything made portable: rapid settling, coping cards, your enrichment plan, and the maintenance schedule.
When it wobbles
Consolidation and your personal wobble plan: what makes a wobble a bad week instead of a relapse.
Available alongside the program
Extra support, when it applies to you
These resources sit alongside the main program. ACT and the Pain Pathway are available from the start; based on your intake screening, your coach may suggest one, and you can access either at any time.
Practice sounds Practice sound library
A small set of everyday practice sounds, grouped by where you’d meet them, each with a suggested tier. Introduced in Module 5 as rehearsal for real sound in the room; browse it any time.
Browse the library →Companion Acceptance and mindfulness
A different relationship with sound and struggle, built into your modules rather than added separately.
Available from the start · may be suggested from your intakePain pathway Understanding your pain
For sound that hurts, not just sound that’s loud, the foundations come before anything else does.
Available from the start · may be suggested from your intake
Before you start
Questions people ask
If yours isn’t here, the Getting ready module answers most of it, and your coach can point you to the relevant program guidance.
How long does the program take?
Most people take a week or so per module, which puts the full arc somewhere around three months. The pace is yours; a module can take longer, and there is no falling behind. Weekly coach guidance is included for a four-month guided period (room to spare at the typical pace), and if life intervenes, you can ask for an extension. Your module materials stay available for twelve months.
Who is reading my check-ins?
A trained coach. They read what you report and write back, reflecting the program’s guidance, helping you notice patterns, and pointing you to the material that fits what you shared.
Will this make my sound sensitivity worse?
Meeting sound again is graded and planned. The pacing is built into each module, with clear signals for when to stay at a level, step down, pause, or move on. You apply those rules yourself; your coach reads your check-in and reflects the same guidance back to you.
What if sound is painful, not just loud?
The Pain Pathway is available from the start. Based on your intake screening, your coach may suggest it early, and you can access it at any time.
What if the fuller eligibility review after enrollment shows it is not a fit?
You will not begin the program. Your payment is refunded in full, and Kodama points you toward the kind of care that is more appropriate: a person, not another unsuitable program.
What happens if I have a bad week?
Recovery isn’t a straight line. Good weeks and flat weeks are both normal, and a wobble is information, not failure. The whole program is designed around that; it even ends with a module about it.
Hyperacusis · Guided program
Start with secure enrollment
Enrollment applies the program’s eligibility rules, collects the information needed to set up your program, and handles payment securely. Your onboarding forms and Getting ready module unlock in Practice Better after enrollment.
Enrollment opens securely in Practice Better. Already enrolled? Log in to your portal. (opens in a new tab)