Tinnitus
Tinnitus Management and Consultation
We are well aware that the incessant ringing or buzzing of tinnitus can drive you nuts.
It may not help to know it, but you’re not alone. About 50 million people experience some form of tinnitus.
Most cases of ringing in the ears are temporary, occurring after being in a noisy stadium, attending a loud concert or a night in the club, discharging a firearm without hearing protection, or being exposed to an explosive event.
However, when tinnitus symptoms last 24/7, it can make life extremely difficult, making it nearly impossible to concentrate while working or studying, enjoy a relaxing time with family or friends, or get a good night’s sleep.
Although chronic tinnitus does not cause you to lose your hearing, it is often associated with the same sensory damage to your ears that leads to hearing loss. And unfortunately, there are lots of tinnitus cure and relief scams to relieve you of your money without relieving you of your tinnitus symptoms.
Your best answer is to seek help from an audiologist. At Visalia Hearing Center, we help you identify your tinnitus and how it might relate to other auditory system issues or medical conditions, and we can provide you with solutions to help you manage the ringing in your ears.
Some Facts About Tinnitus
Tinnitus is the perception of sounds that are not really present in your surrounding environment; it is often called a “phantom” sound.
It is unique for each individual. Although it is common for tinnitus to be described as “ringing in the ears,” descriptions like whirring, clicking, chirping, or buzzing are also used to describe symptoms.
Tinnitus is not a disease but a symptom of something else; there are countless causes of tinnitus, with the #1 cause being a damaged auditory system.
Unfortunately, the root causes in most tinnitus cases are not curable conditions. If the root cause can’t be cured, then neither can the tinnitus that results from it.
Many researchers compare tinnitus to the neurological disorder known as “phantom limb” experienced by amputees, suggesting the sounds you hear are overcompensation for their absence when you experience a hearing loss. However, this does not explain the tinnitus symptoms that occur in individuals without a hearing loss.
Tinnitus can occur in one ear or both ears, be continuous, episodic, or pulsating in nature, and be subjective or objective. In subjective cases, the sound is only heard by the person with the condition, but if someone is experiencing objective tinnitus, someone else can hear it by using a stethoscope.
Pulsatile, objective tinnitus is often associated with circulation issues in and around the ears and can often be treated with surgical or other medical interventions.
Conditions That Often Coincide With Tinnitus:
- Hearing loss
- Exposure to loud noise
- Head and neck injuries (whiplash, concussions, etc.)
- Ototoxic drugs
- Meniere’s disease
- Acoustic neuroma
- Hyper/hypothyroidism
- Abnormal growth of bones in the ear
- Stress
- Depression
- High blood pressure
- Impacted earwax
If you are experiencing these issues along with your tinnitus symptoms, then you will need professional assistance to address your condition.
How Bad Is Your Tinnitus?
To determine the severity of your tinnitus, answer these questions:
Does your tinnitus frustrate you in a quiet room?
Does your tinnitus keep you awake at night?
Is it hard to concentrate because your tinnitus gets in the way?
Answering yes to one or more of these questions should motivate you to seek help from a licensed audiologist.
Can Spell Relief for
Tinnitus Symptoms
Can Spell Relief for
Tinnitus Symptoms
Tinnitus Assessments
Our first step in your tinnitus assessment is to rule out any medical reasons for your symptoms. We do this by gathering information during your initial interview and by doing a physical examination of your ears.
This is among the reasons why we ask questions about your family and medical history, medications, occupation, and leisure activities. And because tinnitus is an auditory phenomenon often associated with a damaged auditory system, a tinnitus consultation must include a thorough analysis of your auditory system.
Medical Interventions
Sound Therapy
If your tinnitus is caused by a damaged auditory system and you’re looking for help in managing your tinnitus, personalized sound therapy is a great option. Precisely stimulating the damaged auditory system with prescriptive sound often provides therapeutic benefit.
Individuals experiencing tinnitus without a damaged auditory system can often find relief with more pleasurable sounds that help mask those being produced by their condition. The American Tinnitus Association provides a Masking Sound Library to help, and there is a broad range of sound-generating devices that can also help block out the sound of tinnitus.
FAQs
about Tinnitus
Can’t find what you’re looking for?
How do I know if I have tinnitus?
There is no objective way to confirm or disprove > 99% of tinnitus cases— that is why it is the #1 approved disability claim for the VA administration.
If you say you’re hearing a sound and no one else can hear it, then you have tinnitus.
Why does my tinnitus seem to get worse at night?
Yes, tinnitus is often reported to be worse at night compared to early in the morning. There are two factors at play for this.
The first is that chronic tinnitus can be partially suppressed with your central nervous system. Your brain, when it’s well rested and has cognitive reserves, can do this. However, as you progress through the day and you deplete your cognitive resources, your brain is less able to partially suppress your tinnitus and your tinnitus grows in loudness.
Essentially as you fatigue, your tinnitus gets louder, and you will be more fatigued at the night compared to first thing in the morning.
Second, most tinnitus patients say their tinnitus is louder at night when the go to sleep. The reason is the most of us sleep in quiet and tinnitus will always be louder in a quiet environment compared to a room with ambient sound.
If your brain is given another acoustic signal to listen to, it will listen to that. If you’re sleeping in quiet, there is no sound available to distract or mask your tinnitus.
Can stress make tinnitus worse?
Stress does not cause tinnitus, but it is the #1 exacerbating factor if you have tinnitus.
The correlation between stress and tinnitus severity/loudness is about as positive as it comes. If you are suffering from tinnitus and your stress increases, there is a very high probability that the severity/loudness of your tinnitus will also increase.
Conversely, if your tinnitus severity/loudness spikes, reducing your stress has a very high probability of bringing your tinnitus back to its baseline severity/loudness levels.
What should I expect during a tinnitus evaluation?
Your tinnitus assessment will start with a thorough analysis of your hearing so we can rule out a damaged auditory system as one of the potential causes. With your initial interview with us and a physical examination of your ears, we can narrow down if medical reasons have caused your tinnitus; depending on your type of tinnitus, we can refer you to an ENT specialist for medical intervention.
With us, your hearing will be assessed to see the loudness and pitch of your symptoms, as well as determining the impact your tinnitus has had on your daily routine. We can offer advice and consultation on how to manage your tinnitus so you can experience long-lasting relief.
Can tinnitus be cured?
This is a very nuanced answer and it depends on what is causing your tinnitus.
Again, tinnitus is not a disease, it is a symptom of something else. Whatever that something else is, is the answer to this question
However, the overwhelming #1 cause of tinnitus is a damaged auditory system and the science and technology to correct this damage does not exist yet. So while the vast majority of tinnitus cases cannot be cured, those cases can be closely managed and monitored by audiologists and other trained healthcare professionals.
Schedule a Tinnitus Consultation
If the incessant ringing, buzzing, or humming sounds of tinnitus are making it difficult to concentrate, relax, or get a good night’s sleep, you may need help from the tinnitus experts at Visalia Hearing Center.
We understand that tinnitus affects individuals in different ways, so our approach is highly personalized to address the unique needs of each patient. We include added tinnitus assessment steps to our standard auditory systems analysis to identify the type and severity of your symptoms and provide management solutions that bring true relief.
Complete and submit the adjacent form to schedule a tinnitus assessment so you can take your life back from the ongoing frustration caused by tinnitus.
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