Expert Tinnitus Treatment by Certified Tinnitus Doctors in Spring, TX
Have you noticed intense ringing, buzzing, or hissing sounds after leaving a loud nightclub, concert, or major sporting event?
Just about everybody has, but usually the sensation goes away within a few hours or maybe the following day, and we think nothing of it.
What if that irritating noise, known as tinnitus, is ongoing and never stops? How would ringing in your ears 24/7 affect your ability to concentrate, relax, or sleep?
The 2.4 million people in the world who experience severe, chronic tinnitus often experience additional negative social, emotional, and physical health conditions that threaten their daily productivity and quality of life.
If you are among those 2.4 million people, you’re probably doing everything you can to find answers to what’s going on and how to fix it.
You’re in luck!
North Houston Hearing Solutions has answers and solutions to help you get control over the ringing in your ears. Contact us today to learn more about tinnitus management.
What Causes Tinnitus?
Let’s start with the bad news. In spite of thousands of hours of research into the condition, nobody knows what causes tinnitus.
By definition, tinnitus is a sound heard inside your brain that does not come from any external source. It is a symptom rather than a disease, and it is a neurological disorder associated with sound processing rather than an issue specifically linked to your ears.
Researchers of tinnitus, despite being unable to identify a specific cause, have identified several conditions often linked to tinnitus, such as:
Prolonged exposure to loud noise
Head trauma
Ear canal obstructions
Vestibular issues
Various ototoxic drugs
Stress
Hearing loss
Diet
The symptoms of tinnitus are unique for everyone. While some experience ringing, others describe the sound as buzzing, whooshing, hissing, or crickets. To complicate the issue, sounds can be continuous or pulsatile, and symptoms can be objective or subjective.
Answers to Your Questions About Tinnitus
Proven Techniques and Technologies Used to Manage Tinnitus
Have you been duped by “proprietary formulas that cure tinnitus”?
There are plenty of unproven claims of tinnitus cures out there, but if you consider that no one has identified a specific cause, how can anyone claim to have a cure? However, there are some proven techniques and technologies used to manage symptoms and reduce the impact of tinnitus on your quality of life.
While there is no official cure for tinnitus, there are many methods of tinnitus treatment that can help you get a handle on your tinnitus symptoms.
Here are some of the most common methods used for tinnitus management:
Masking or covering awareness of the sound (white noise, various types of sound, music, etc.)
Medications to reduce stress and anxiety or to aid sleep
Sound therapy used to disrupt the neural signal
Hearing aids, which correct hearing loss and allow for sound masking
TRT (tinnitus retraining therapy) and other therapies (psychological counseling, biofeedback, relaxation techniques, neuromonics therapy, etc.), which work to reduce awareness of the condition and the contribution of stress to it
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT)
Because our tinnitus doctors make use of this technique in our approach to tinnitus management, it is necessary to have a better understanding of TRT.
Tinnitus retraining therapy involves helping you learn to cope with your tinnitus on a conscious and subconscious level. This tinnitus treatment technique has helped a lot of people to experience stress reduction and a better quality of life.
TRT involves habituation to the noise and can be compared to how you first notice raindrops falling on a roof, but the sound begins to go unnoticed as time passes. Habituation to the sound you’re hearing involves three therapeutic steps:
The collection of information about you, including your personal/family history, medical history, and daily living habits.
The generation of broadband noise to divert your attention away from the tinnitus sounds.
Psychological counseling to help you ignore the tinnitus noise, along with relaxation exercises and stress management. By eliminating your stress and anxiety, tinnitus is no longer perceived as a danger, which diverts your concentration away from the tinnitus noise.
