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
- Various ototoxic drugs
- Diet
- Head trauma
- Stress
- Ear canal obstructions
- Vestibular issues
- Hearing loss
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
Q. Can exposure to loud noise cause tinnitus?
A. Yes. The ringing, whooshing, or buzzing in your ears for several hours after discharging a firearm without wearing protection, attending a concert or major sporting event, or witnessing an explosion are indicators that tinnitus may be linked to exposure to loud noise.
Q. Can stress or anxiety contribute to tinnitus?
A. Stress and anxiety do not cause tinnitus, but they increase your awareness of it and multiply its effect, making it difficult to concentrate, relax, or get a good night's sleep.
Q. Do some medications cause or make tinnitus worse?
A. Yes. There are several ototoxic medications, belonging to three main categories, that may contribute to tinnitus:
- Group 1: Aspirin at high doses, salicylates like Amikacin, Amphotericin B (Fungizone), Bumetanide (Bumex), Carboplatin (Paraplatin), Chloroquine (Aralen), Cisplatin (Platinol), Ethacrynic acid (Edecrin), Furosemide (Lasix), and Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil).
- Group 2: Analgesics, Ibuprofen (Advil) and the tricyclic antidepressant Imipramine (Tofranil), along with Chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin), lead, and quinine sulfate.
- Group 3: Alcohol, toluene, trichloroethylene, Chlordiazepoxide (Librium), Chlorhexidine (Phisohex, Hexachlorophene), Ampicillin, Iodoform, Clemastine fumarate (Tavist), Clomipramine hydrochloride (Anafranil), and Chlorpheniramine Maleate (Chlor-trimeton and several others).
Q. Is there a cure for tinnitus?
A. Unfortunately, no. Since there is no identified cause for tinnitus there is also no cure.
Q. Is there a connection between hearing loss and tinnitus?
A. Yes. Tinnitus is known to go hand in hand with hearing loss in about 90 percent of cases.
Q. Can lifestyle changes alleviate tinnitus symptoms?
A. Diet and various lifestyle habits (alcohol, drugs, smoking, etc.) can act as triggers, but there is not enough proof to determine a direct link to tinnitus symptoms. Lifestyle changes may be part of an overall tinnitus management strategy, but they will not alleviate tinnitus symptoms on their own.
Q. Is there a link between tinnitus and certain medical conditions, such as Meniere's disease or TMJ disorder?
A. Yes. These medical conditions are known to produce tinnitus symptoms.
Q. Can stress-reduction techniques or relaxation exercises help alleviate tinnitus symptoms?
A. Yes. These coping techniques are usually part of TRT (tinnitus retraining therapy) and make a significant contribution to the management of your tinnitus symptoms.
Q. Can hearing aids provide relief for tinnitus?
A. Yes. However, the primary decision to prescribe hearing aids is to help restore hearing, not to correct tinnitus. Improved hearing through the use of hearing aids helps decrease the intensity of tinnitus, and many of the latest hearing aid models include tinnitus-masking capabilities to help manage symptoms.
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.
What Our Patients Have To Say
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If you’re looking for real relief backed by research to manage your condition, our tinnitus experts at North Houston Hearing Solutions have proven technologies and techniques available to produce measurable results so you can control how the ringing in your ears impacts your quality of life.
Complete and submit the adjacent form, and a member of our team will call you back to answer your questions and concerns and/or help schedule a tinnitus evaluation.
Don’t want to wait? Call us at: 346-482-4100
Meet Your Team
Dr. Lacy D. Robinson
DOCTOR OF AUDIOLOGY & LYRIC SPECIALIST
Norma A. Aguilera
Hearing Instrument Specialist
Dr. Angela F. Poe
DOCTOR OF AUDIOLOGY
Dr. Lacey Brooks
DOCTOR OF AUDIOLOGY & TINNITUS SPECIALIST
Dr. Carly Caughlan
Doctor of Audiology
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What’s That Ringing In My Ears? Tinnitus Explained
