If you have tinnitus, you are familiar with the constant sound that comes from within your body. Many people refer commonly to tinnitus as “ringing in the ears,” and a ringing sound is commonly reported, indeed. However, other people describe sounds such as humming, hissing, buzzing, whooshing, roaring, or even clicking as a symptom of tinnitus.
What defines tinnitus is that the sound does not come from an external source. Instead, something within the body is the cause of this disorder. In the less common case, objective tinnitus, a feature of the body such as a bone or blood vessel near the eardrum creates a sound that a doctor can hear with specialized equipment. In the more common case, subjective tinnitus, the individual is the only one able to hear the sound of tinnitus. That sound originates in the cochlea of the inner ear where tiny hairlike organelles called stereocilia have been bent, broken, or otherwise damaged. In some cases of damage to the stereocilia, a person can experience hearing loss, effectively turning off that receptor of sound. In the case of tinnitus, the stereocilia are effectively turned on, so that the brain interprets sound when there is no stimulus coming from outside the body.
What can you do if you have one of these types of tinnitus? In any case of tinnitus, it is wise to mention the condition to your primary care physician. If you have objective tinnitus, there might be a physical remedy that can solve the problem. However, if you have subjective tinnitus, management is the best-available treatment. Let’s take a look at some of the different ways that people treat tinnitus, ranging from home remedies to professional treatment. With these options in mind, you can seek a management strategy that works for you.
Home Remedies for Tinnitus
People come up with lots of management strategies at home to deal with the symptoms of tinnitus. For many people, the quiet hours before falling asleep are the most difficult. When the home and neighborhood are quiet, it’s as if someone turned up the volume on tinnitus. This loud sound can make it difficult to sleep, and, of course, a lack of sleep leads to all kinds of other problems for health and mental wellbeing. Insomnia is commonly reported among people with tinnitus, so finding a way to fall asleep is one of the most important management strategies. Some people use other sounds to mask tinnitus. A television or radio at low volume can be enough to distract the mind from paying attention to tinnitus, but that distraction can also make it difficult to fall asleep. Box fans or white noise machines can provide a broad spectrum of sound that is less distracting. Some people purchase machines that make sounds akin to nature, such as rainfall, ocean waves, frogs, or wind in the trees. These gentle, natural sounds provide the added benefit of a soothing experience at night. Although these home remedies might help the person with tinnitus, each of them can be distracting to others in the home. As well, they are only suited to the time spent at home, and they aren’t able to address tinnitus symptoms while out and about in the world.
Professional Management of Tinnitus
New professional solutions are developing to treat tinnitus, as well. Many of the latest hearing aids are equipped with technology to address not only hearing loss but also tinnitus. These devices produce a specific frequency of sound that matches that of the tinnitus symptoms. When the sound is produced in an identical but opposite “phase relationship,” these sounds can use the sonic phenomenon of “phase cancellation” to eliminate the experience of that sound. Users will need to patiently dial in the precise tones that match tinnitus, and that process can take time. Although not all tinnitus patients find relief through this process, many have found that professional management of tinnitus is a good way to address these issues through hearing aids. A combination of approaches is the best method to get relief, so be sure to consult with our hearing health professionals about a comprehensive plan to manage your tinnitus symptoms and hearing loss at the same time.
