What Should You Do if You Think You Have Tinnitus?

Tinnitus is a common symptom of an underlying condition. Around 20 million people in the United States. live with it on a daily basis. Traditionally, audiologists described it as a ringing in the years. However, sounds can take a variety of forms, including whooshing, buzzing, and even music. In this article, we explore what you should do if you think you have tinnitus.

Go to Your Audiologist

Most people will experience transient tinnitus at some point in their lives. However, if it lasts more than two weeks, you’ll need to visit your audiologist to check that there are any underlying issues driving it, such as hearing loss or cardiovascular disease. 

There is no specific test for subjective tinnitus since the brain is essentially hallucinating the sound. However, audiologists have a range of techniques for supporting a tinnitus diagnosis. 

For instance, audiologists may ask you to undergo a hearing test to rule out hearing loss, a common cause of tinnitus. They may also suggest scans to look for abnormalities in the blood vessels supplying the ear. 

In some cases, they may recommend tinnitus noise matching. Here you listen to various sounds through earphones and then tell your audiologist when they match the volume of your subjective tinnitus experience. This way, they can determine the severity of your condition. 

Choose Your Treatment Type

Based on the diagnosis and an examination of your ears, audiologists may recommend a host of tinnitus treatment options. These could include: 

• Earwax removal to reduce hearing loss and increase the stimulation of the brain’s auditory processing centers.
• Hearing aid fitting to counteract noise-induced hearing loss and provide you with sound-masking relief.
• Changing your medication that doesn’t have tinnitus as a side effect.
• Treating blood vessel conditions with medication, lifestyle modification or both.

Noise suppression, for instance, attempts to mask tinnitus sounds using external noises. Many hearing aids can produce white noise that blocks out unwanted humming or buzzing. You can also get standalone white noise machines that do the same thing. 

Many patients also get counseling. Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) is a technique provided by audiologists. This approach combined sound masking with counseling to help you feel better about your symptoms. Changing your perceptions of tinnitus may improve sleep, ability to concentrate and overall life satisfaction. 

Unfortunately, there is no outright cure for tinnitus. 

Learn About Your Condition and Get Support

Tinnitus is rarely a serious medical condition by itself. However, you may find it difficult to live with from a mental health perspective.

Because of this, it is important to get support. Sharing your experiences with others may be helpful. Communicating through tinnitus groups, either online or in person, lets you access more information about the symptom and talk to other people going through a similar experience to you. 

You may also want to educate yourself about alleviating symptoms and some of the options open to you. In many cases, stress management helps. Exercise, meditation and relaxation therapy can all make you feel calm and reduce symptoms.