There is no universal cure for tinnitus, but treatments can help make it less of a distraction. Because tinnitus is a side effect of an underlying condition, identifying the problem may lead to a medical or surgical solution. Depending on the cause of your tinnitus, there are several different treatment options to help relieve your symptoms. Your Premier Medical physician and Audiologist will work together to assess the severity of your tinnitus and create a management plan that is right for you.
Medical Management
If your tinnitus is related to earwax build up, medication, or infection, your Premier Medical physician may have a solution for it. They may remove the earwax, recommend a different dose or an entirely new medication or treat the infection with antibiotics.
Hearing Aids
A standard treatment option utilizes hearing aids, as nearly 90% of those with tinnitus also experience hearing loss. Hearing aids may be recommended to treat tinnitus even in the absence of hearing loss. Hearing aids may reduce tinnitus symptoms by raising the environmental sounds to reduce tinnitus awareness. Hearing aids are programmable and a “tinnitus masker” may be implemented. A tinnitus masker is used to help cover the sounds of your tinnitus with a soothing sound. This then provides relief from the unwanted, bothersome sound.
Acoustic Therapy
Acoustic therapy is the use of sound with the intent to alter the tinnitus perception and reactions for clinical benefit. Often, sounds are used to cover up, or mask, tinnitus. Electronic devices that produce white noise, air conditioners, fans and soft music can all be employed.
You can employ a range of sound therapy options, including audio files, sleep noise generators, tinnitus-specific earbuds and more. These acoustic therapy methods help to habituate a tinnitus sufferer to their symptoms by reducing the contrast between the tonal sounds they hear and their environment. This allows the brain to blend and mask tinnitus sounds with natural and therapy added environmental noises.
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) centers around tinnitus counseling, which aims to teach you about your condition and how retraining techniques and sound enrichment can alter the way you react to any perceive the sound of your tinnitus. There are three major components to tinnitus retraining therapy:
- An evaluation of your daily habits and history.
- The fitting and use of broad-band noise generating devices that help cancel out or muffle
- Therapeutic training to help you learn how to manage and ignore tinnitus symptoms.
You aren’t alone with your tinnitus.
Steroid Injections
Ménière’s disease has a number of symptoms, including hearing loss, tinnitus and vertigo that fluctuate due to increased fluid pressures in the ear organs. The resulting hearing loss and tinnitus can be treated with a series of injections of a potent steroid, which often reduces symptoms.
Surgery
Nearly 80% of those with a benign tumor near the inner ear and the brain, known as an acoustic neuroma, suffer from tinnitus. Surgical removal of the acoustic neuroma may resolve the tinnitus.
Hearing aids
A standard treatment option utilizes hearing aids, as nearly 90% of those with tinnitus also experience hearing loss. Hearing aids are used to amplify background sounds, which can mask tinnitus. These devices can also help you distinguish one sound from another, improving communication and helping with focus and concentration difficulties. Many hearing aids come packaged with noise generators to replace ambient sounds if amplification alone does not reduce tinnitus.
Counseling
Counseling and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be practical in helping you manage your tinnitus symptoms by reducing the stress, anxiety and sleeplessness that are often associated with tinnitus.
Behavioral therapy can be effective and provide a range of coping skills to help you manage tinnitus symptoms and the associated stress and depression that often accompany the condition.
Call Premier Medical Group for more information or to schedule an appointment.