Tinnitus Treatment
Tinnitus describes hearing a specific noise in one or both ears.
This sound is most often described as a ringing, buzzing, clicking, or whistling-like noise. Tinnitus is not a condition itself but is a symptom of an underlying condition. Hearing loss is the most common cause of tinnitus, accounting for 90% of the tinnitus that people experience. According to the Hearing Health Foundation, 25 million adults report experiencing tinnitus for five or more minutes in the past year. Additionally, an estimated 16 million people seek medical attention for tinnitus every year. Tinnitus can range from mild to chronic which can impact sleep, ability to concentrate, capacity to complete everyday tasks, etc. This can produce mood swings, irritability, and hearing as well as communication challenges.
Fortunately, there are effective ways tinnitus can be managed. This includes addressing and treating hearing loss as well as tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT). Hearing aid features include tinnitus treatment options that emit low levels of white noise designed to alleviate tinnitus. TRT, a type of sound therapy, is another strategy used to reduce the impact tinnitus can have in everyday life. This involves using deep relaxation exercises and sound therapy to train the brain to interpret tinnitus differently. Using a process referred to as habituation, people are repeatedly exposed to low-level noise so that the brain receives both this noise and tinnitus. After a period of time, the brain can interpret tinnitus as mundane background noise which deemphasizes the tinnitus and alleviates its impact.
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