Tinnitus and Relief Techniques

Many people with hearing loss also have tinnitus, commonly known as ringing in the ear. This phrase, however, is misleading because some people hear ringing, while others hear ringing, hissing or a combination of sounds. Regardless of the specific sound, the characteristic of tinnitus is that there is no external cause. People with tinnitus hear sounds that people around them cannot hear. This doesn’t mean that tinnitus isn’t real – researchers at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders have identified changes in brain activity during tinnitus.

Strategies that can help

Some people with hearing loss and tinnitus find that both problems improve when they wear a hearing aid or have a cochlear implant. Others find that their tinnitus symptoms improve somewhat when they cut down on caffeine and alcohol, reduce the amount of fat in their diet and stop smoking.

The following techniques can also help reduce your tinnitus:

• When you are in a quiet room, listen to music or “white noise.” If you are in a quiet room and you have a quiet room, use white noise, or “white noise”.
  
• Use the tinnitus masking function in your hearing aid. This is a feature built into most modern hearing aids that allows you to select a sound to “mask” the tinnitus you hear. How effective it is varies from person to person, but it usually provides some level of relief for most people. You and your hearing care professional can choose the sound frequency and volume that suits your needs, and you can turn it on or off at any time.
  
• Tinnitus retraining therapy is an effective method for treating tinnitus, especially in people with tinnitus and hypersensitive hearing (hyperacusis). It is a long, expensive procedure and can take 18 to 24 months. It is based on the principle of habituation, which occurs when the brain is exposed to a background sound, such as white noise, for long periods of time. After a while, the brain begins to filter out that background noise. Retraining involves listening to a tone similar to tinnitus for hours at a time. Eventually, the brain ignores the tone along with the tinnitus sound.
  
• Reduce stress with whatever methods work for you. Try meditation, which helps you learn not to focus on stimuli like the tinnitus sound. Also try yoga, visualization or other relaxation techniques. Consider biofeedback or hypnosis. Ask your doctor to recommend qualified professionals.

Article from Harvard Medical School, www.health.harvard