Many who suffer from tinnitus have heard of tinitus retraining therapy. Tinnitus is a condition which is defined as ringing in the ears when there is no noise from the outside that is causing the sound. Ringing seems to be the most common sound that suffers of tinnitus report. However, some hear beeping, whistling, buzzing, rustling or other sounds rather than ringing. Although there is no cure for the condition, there are several methods of treatment.
How you go about treating your diagnosed tinnitus will depend on what the cause of your condition is. Sometimes the cause is a very evident one like having too much wax in your ear, strong allergies, high blood pressure, etc. Other times, there may seem to be no physical cause and, in that case, the possible causes are really endless. It could be stress, over-exposure to loud noises, mental illness, and other more intangible factors. The hearing system is extremely sensitive and can be thrown off when other things in the body are imbalanced as well. So, there are many strategies that have worked for different types of tinnitus suffers.
Tinitus retraining therapy is one of these methods and it is a relatively new approach. It involves masking the noise with a “masker” that you wear on your ear to block out the disturbing noise and, at the same time, trying to focus on other noises than those that are inside their ears. The goal is to start the patient out with a masker to help them focus on other sounds and, by the end of the training, have them remove the masker and be able to do so without it.
Antibiotics is another possible “cure”. If your ear ringing is causes by an infection, this is all you will need to get rid of the problem. If you get to your doctor in the early stages of the infection, it will not progress to tinnitus. As with all antibiotics, you must take the full course of the medication so that your infection doesn’t come back stronger than the first time.
Maskers by themselves, without the therapy that goes with it, can drown out the ringing with another noise. These tend to work better for milder cases of tinnitus and they are worn just like a hearing aid. If you can stand by the water faucet with the water turned all the way on, and if you hear only the water, you will likely benefit from using a masker.
Tinnitus is a disorder that, in mild forms, is very disturing, and in more severe forms can be debilitating and lead to permanent hearing loss. Tinitus retraining therapy, masking and antibiotics are just some of the ways that tinnitus suffers are dealing with the condition.
This article is not meant to substitute the advice of a medical professional.
