Tinnitus

 

Many People Have Tinnitus

 It has been estimated that 10% to 15% of the US population experiences chronic or persistent tinnitus. About half of the people with tinnitus are bothered by it and it is reported that about 1% indicate that tinnitus substantially affects their lives. An estimated 50 million US adults reported having any tinnitus and 16 million reported frequent tinnitus in the past year. Tinnitus was shown to increase with age, peaking at 14.3% of people ages 60 to 69 years. In addition, it was most prevalent among people with low-to-mid or high frequency hearing loss. Other authors indicate that chronic tinnitus affects 42 million Americans and is considered “clinically significant” in 10 million adults.

The Effects of Tinnitus

Tinnitus has been shown to have a direct impact on a person’s emotional well-being, hearing, and ability to sleep and to concentrate—in turn influencing basic life functions such as socialization and relaxation. It can interfere with an individual’s ability to perform adequately on the job or contribute to psychological disorders, such as depression, suicide ideation, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and anger. The constancy of tinnitus and the perceived lack of control can provoke fear which exacerbates the problem leading to an ever-increasing cycle of distress in the person suffering from tinnitus.

Ringing in Your Ears Is Treatable

Tinnitus involves the perception of sound or sounds and is commonly associated with hearing and the inner ear. Tinnitus can be perceived in one or both ears or in the head. It is usually described as a ringing noise, but can be described as high-pitched whining, electric buzzing, hissing, humming, tinging, whistling, ticking, clicking, roaring, similar to "crickets", songs, beeping, or even a pure steady tone like that heard during a hearing test. It has also been described as a "wooshing" sound, as of wind or waves. Tinnitus can be intermittent, or it can be continuous, in which case it can be the cause of great distress.

 Most people with tinnitus have some degree of hearing loss. They often have a hearing loss within the same range of frequencies as their tinnitus. Digital hearing aids have been an effective solution to alleviate tinnitus.

There are two types of tinnitus - Objective and Subjective.  Sometimes the tinnitus can be heard as an actual sound emanating from the patient's ears. This is called objective tinnitus. Objective tinnitus can arise from muscle spasms that cause clicks in the middle ear. Some experience a sound that beats in time with the pulse (pulsatile tinnitus, or vascular tinnitus). Objective tinnitus usually has a vascular or mechanical origin.

Subjective tinnitus can have many possible causes, but most commonly results from the same conditions that caused the hearing loss. The most common cause is exposure to excessive or loud noises resulting in a noise-induced hearing loss. Tinnitus, along with sudden onset hearing loss, may have no obvious external cause. Ototoxic drugs can cause subjective tinnitus either secondary to hearing loss or without hearing loss and may increase the damage done by exposure to loud noise, even at doses that are not in themselves ototoxic.

There are a number of non-auditory conditions that can cause tinnitus, as well as lifestyle factors. Hypertension or high blood pressure, thyroid problems, and chronic brain syndromes can all cause tinnitus without any specific auditory problems. Stress and fatigue may cause tinnitus, or can contribute to an exacerbation of an existing case. Poor diet and lack of exercise that may cause blood vessel and heart problems may also either cause it or exacerbate an existing condition. It is also possible that tinnitus could be caused by food or beverage allergies, but these causes are not well documented and are difficult to sort out.

Tinnitus Treatment – Sound Therapy

There is a good chance that tinnitus can at least be alleviated with sound therapy. Hear Well Again Center’s can provide sound solutions to alleviate and habituate tinnitus. If amplifying and clarifying speech is needed, digital hearing aids would be part of the sound solution. While it is not clear whether hearing aids help by amplifying background sounds that can mask out the tinnitus or by actually altering the production of tinnitus, most hearing aid wearers report at least some reduction in their tinnitus. This may be due to the reduction in contrast between tinnitus and silence, or because of the new stimulation provided to the brain.

If there is no hearing loss, tinnitus sound generation (TSG) devices may be able to initially mask and eventually habituate tinnitus.  Siemens has eight multiple program/multiple microphone digital hearing aids that are also TSG devices.  They can both generate various types of noise to mask tinnitus and amplify speech in a wide variety of listening environments. Amplifying background sound or producing background ambient noise can reduce the loudness or prominence of tinnitus.  These devices can assist the wearer habituate to the tinnitus. They cover all four levels of Siemens hearing aid technology (increasing effectiveness of noise attenuation, speech enhancement, natural sound and comfort) and two styles – open ear and receiver-the-the canal. The hearing aid/tinnitus instrument fitting takes about an hour and may be performed after the tinnitus assessment.

Hear Well Again Centers Risk-Free Tinnitus Relief Program is truly one-of-a-kind. If you have tinnitus, we have breakthrough digital hearing aid and/or tinnitus sound generators that can be programmed to your hearing loss (if any), listening need and matched to the pitch and loudness of your tinnitus.  Before you can even purchase them on a trial basis, you can try them and wear day for a week at no charge. 

No risk!

You can wear demonstrator devices  for a week in your everyday listening situations at work and home and experience them at absolutely no-risk. Believe your ears and if these demonstrator instruments have alleviated or even completely masked your tinnitus and amplification has made listening easier then you can order and be fit with new models on a 30 day trial basis.  Nowhere else can you be fit and immediately experience the tremendous benefits of the remarkable devices at no-risk.

To learn how easy tinnitus relief can be call Hear Well Again Centers and schedule a  consultation.