Tinnitus can have a variety of impacts on a person’s day-to-day life. From persistent to intermittent, and loud to soft, buzzing to ringing, tinnitus treatment is critical to helping restore your quality of life. Bluegrass Hearing Clinic can diagnose and treat tinnitus to counter these frustrating effects. Without treatment, tinnitus can continue to worsen or even mask other medical conditions.
What is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a random sound in one or both of your ears without an external source. Unfortunately, subjective tinnitus can only be heard by the person experiencing the sounds. Common sounds are ringing, whooshing, buzzing, clicking and whistling. This is only a small sample size, as tinnitus sounds vary wildly from one person to the next.
Objective tinnitus is similar, but can sometimes be heard by other people. This type of tinnitus is rare, and points to a severe problem beyond hearing health. Regular checkups when you are suffering from tinnitus will prevent a disruption to daily life activities.
Cause
There are several causes of tinnitus, ranging from aging, noise exposure and even certain medications. Noise exposure is widespread and can be experienced by individuals through their hobbies or careers. Manufacturing workers are around the type of noise exposure that is guaranteed to cause tinnitus. Environmental noise is always a concern, especially when its danger isn’t taken seriously.
Sometimes tinnitus is a side effect of another condition. Head trauma or Meniere’s disease lists tinnitus as one of its main side effects. When tinnitus is diagnosed, it has the chance to uncover a lot more than a nagging sound in your ears.
Treatment
Hearing aids have advanced enough to provide features that help address tinnitus. These features work to mask tinnitus sounds and provide you relief from the noise. These can be used to treat just tinnitus or can also be programmed to address hearing loss, as well. They may be used on their own or could be recommended in tandem with therapy treatments.
There are two types of therapy available to aid in tinnitus relief. Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) take a different approach compared to devices that nullify tinnitus. They work as a form of relaxation techniques to remove the stress associated with the condition.
For some patients, tinnitus is a temporary problem. Earwax buildup, medications and concussions can cause temporary tinnitus. With time and treatment, a return to normal hearing functions is expected.