While it’s true that there is at this time no scientifically-established way to cure tinnitus, researchers are hard at work to uncover one. In the meantime, several tinnitus therapy options exist that can offer substantial relief.
Look at it this way. When you have a headache, you take Tylenol in spite of the fact that it doesn’t “cure” your headache. Pain relievers merely make the pain diminish into the background to ensure that it doesn’t impact your day. Likewise, tinnitus therapy can help limit the severity of symptoms so that your tinnitus has very little impact on your daily schedule.
Seeing as every person responds to tinnitus in a different way, there’s no one-size-fits-all treatment. You’ll need to work together with your provider to find the approach that is best suited for you.
Here are some of those options.
Tinnitus Treatment Options
If you are suffering from tinnitus, you’ll want to talk over the following treatment options with your hearing care or healthcare professional.
Treatment of the underlying problem
Whereas most instances of tinnitus are not curable—and are a consequence of hearing loss or other non-reversible damage—some cases are caused by an underlying physical condition. You’ll want to rule these out before pursuing other treatment options.
Potential physical causes of tinnitus include jaw joint problems (temporomandibular joint, or TMJ dysfunction), too much earwax or any other blockages in the ear canal, head and neck injuries, and side effects to select medications.
General Health And Fitness
The intensity of tinnitus symptoms can fluctuate depending on all-around health. Taking actions to improve general fitness is, therefore, one thing tinnitus sufferers can get started on right away to minimize the intensity level of symptoms.
Every person is different, and what works well for someone else may not be right for you. The purpose is to try out a variety of activities to find out what works best.
Strategies that have revealed promise include instituting a healthy diet, getting lots of physical exercise, meditating, and participating in activities like cycling, which can conceal the sounds of tinnitus.
Hearing Aids
Tinnitus is often associated with hearing loss and hearing injury. In response to reduced stimulation from external sound, the brain goes through maladaptive changes that lead to the perception of tinnitus.
By enhancing the amount of environmental sound, hearing aids can help mask the tinnitus, making the sounds of tinnitus less recognizable. Hearing aids in addition supply enhanced sound stimulation to the brain, which is thought to be neurologically favorable.
Sound Therapy
Sound therapy is basically the delivery of sound in the form of white noise, pink noise, or nature sounds to decrease the perceived burden or intensity of tinnitus.
Sound therapy works by covering up the tinnitus and also by retraining the brain to reidentify the sounds of tinnitus as insignificant. This twofold effect can reduce the short and long-term degree of tinnitus.
Sound therapy can be provided through special tabletop gadgets, but also through portable media products and even through hearing aids. Medical-grade sound therapy employs customized sounds that match the pitch of the individual’s tinnitus for the best outcomes.
Behavioral Therapies
Bear in mind that tinnitus is the perception of sound in the brain when no external sound is present. The ailment is, therefore, highly personal, and each person reacts in a unique way.
In fact, whether or not the individual perceives tinnitus as debilitating or minor is predominantly as a consequence of psychological reactions and not to the loudness or pitch of the tinnitus. That’s why cognitive/behavioral solutions to tinnitus therapy have been proven to be very effective.
A number of techniques exist, including Mindfulness-Based-Stress-Reduction (MBSR) and Tinnitus-Retraining-Therapy (TRT), which merges cognitive-behavioral-therapy with sound therapy.
Drug Therapy
Even though there are no current FDA-approved medications for tinnitus, antianxiety and antidepressant prescriptions are often utilized to manage the behavioral side effects to tinnitus. These medications do not appear to impact tinnitus itself, but may furnish much-needed relief if thought to be appropriate by your doctor.
Experimental Therapies
The search for a tinnitus cure is continuous. A variety of experimental therapies are in development or evaluation and newer techniques become available every year. If your tinnitus is severe, and you’ve experienced very little benefit from existing therapies, you may be a candidate for one of these leading edge treatment options.
Check out the Experimental Therapies page at the American Tinnitus Association website for additional information.
Obtain Relief For Your Tinnitus
Tinnitus is being aggressively researched, with brand new findings and potential treatment methods introduced every year. Even now, there are a variety of encouraging treatments that, while not supplying a cure, can supply considerable relief. You owe it to yourself to investigate these options, stay positive and persistent in your tinnitus care, and work together with your provider to refine your treatment plan for the best results.