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TINNITUS
What is it ? What help is available?
Tinnitus or ringing in the ears can be a nerve-wracking condition that can rob a person of a normal lifestyle. Tinnitus is perception of sound when external sound is not present. It is a common condition, affecting some 50 million Americans. In its severe form can cause anxiety, lack of concentration and loss of sleep. Tinnitus can result from a variety of causes including exposure to loud noise, medication side-effects, head injury, vascular changes, Meneire's Syndrome, ear infections and hearing loss. Many times the cause cannot be determined. If the physician has determined that a medically-treatable condition is not the cause of tinnitus, a person may benefit from evaluation and treatment by an audiologist.
Harbor Audiology offers a full range of services for a patient with tinnitus. An extensive hearing and tinnitus evaluation is performed to determine the best treatment choice for each individual. Based on the patient's hearing ability and severity of the tinnitus, counseling and therapy may be recommended.
Treatment can take several forms. external sources of sound may be used to mask tinnitus. If a hearing impairment is present, a hearing aid may offer relief from the tinnitus as well as improve communication skills.
A third kind of sound therapy is Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) developed by neurophysiologist Dr. Pawel Jasterboff. Noise generators that look almost like hearing aids are worn in the ear. The noise produced by these instruments is a soft soothing sound similar to gently falling rain. This sound is mixed with the tinnitus and the brain is retrained not to perceive the tinnitus. The goal of TRT is to be unaware of the tinnitus a majority of the time. Significant improvement can be seen within several weeks or months.when the patient carefully follows the protocol. |
Tinnitus: sensation of a ringing, roaring, or buzzing sound in the ears or head; often associated with various forms of a hearing impairment.
Tinnitus is a common problem, affecting about 17% of the general population around the world (44 million people in the USA). |
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