Tinnitus is the term used to describe the condition of perceiving a ringing, buzzing or whooshing noise in the absence of an external sound source. This is typically only experienced by the person with tinnitus and has a variety of different causes.
Treating the cause
Tinnitus can be caused by many things, and is usually a symptom of an underlying condition. The treatment for your particular tinnitus will depend on the condition that is causing it, the severity, any accompanying issues such as hearing loss, and the impact the tinnitus has on daily activities.
Common causes of tinnitus include:
- Hearing loss
- Exposure to loud noises
- Earwax buildup or blockage
- Abnormal bone growth in the ear
- Meniere’s disease
- Head or neck injuries
- Benign tumor of the cranial nerve
- Medication
- Aging
- Vascular disorders
- Stress or depression
In order to find out the root cause of your tinnitus, your hearing professional will conduct a complete medical history, as well as a complete examination. Depending on your particular case they may do some testing to understand your experience with the tinnitus, such as pitch and intensity matching as well as determining minimum masking level and tinnitus inhibition. This assessment is often a requirement if you are applying for a Tinnitus Disability with Veterans Affairs.
What treatments are available?
Depending on the cause of your tinnitus and other factors, several treatments are available to relieve your tinnitus symptoms, from hearing aids with tinnitus-masking features to sound therapy.
Fight it with Distraction
After thorough evaluation and when medically treatable causes of tinnitus are ruled out, your next step is to fight the tinnitus sensation. Our brains are wired that we can only truly focus on one thing at a time. If we let that be our tinnitus, then it overtakes. We need to find ways to take the focus off of it. This could be doing an activity we enjoy or reading an engaging story.
Fight it with Sound
A common treatment is acoustic therapy or sound therapy. Sound therapy makes use of sounds to help the brain re-focus and diminish the emotional impact of the tinnitus.
Hearing aids
Hearing devices are incredibly helpful in treating tinnitus. Even if a hearing loss isn’t present, hearing aids can be equipped with tinnitus-masking features that help cover the tinnitus and offer relief from the unwanted noise. In many cases, some degree of hearing loss is present and this will make the results even more effective as amplifying the missing sounds can help reduce tinnitus awareness even more.
Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
There are two main therapies that have been recommended for tinnitus treatment. These are Tinnitus Retraining Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy attempts to retrain your brain into perceiving the tinnitus in a different way. Cognitive behavioral therapy may also be included to help the individual cope with any emotional difficulties they’re experiencing, including depression, stress or anger.
This level of treatment is very in depth and requires a significant time commitment. We do not perform the full therapies at Local Care Hearing Services but we are happy to guide you to the clinics that do if necessary for you.