The Role of a Hearing Specialist in Tinnitus Management

Hearing specialists offer support and solutions for individuals experiencing tinnitus symptoms. They can provide valuable guidance and recommend interventions, including the prescription of hearing aids designed to alleviate tinnitus symptoms, tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) and white noise to help reduce the symptoms of your tinnitus. If you are experiencing a ringing, buzzing or whooshing sound, schedule an appointment with an audiologist to understand the cause of your tinnitus.

What is Tinnitus?

Tinnitus causes people to hear frequencies that are not from an external sound. Such sounds usually take the form of a ringing or buzzing sound in the ears. This sound can come and go, and many vary in intensity. Many people find it worse when they are stressed or when they are in a quiet location. The noise can distract people from being able to concentrate on work or on tasks like reading and it can keep people awake at night. This can affect your mental and physical well-being, if left untreated.

What are the Causes of Tinnitus?

Tinnitus can have many causes. Finding the root cause can sometimes make it easier to manage and treat. Some of the most common causes of tinnitus include:

• • Damage to the ear
  • High blood pressure
  • Medication side effects
  • Ear and sinus infections
  • Build-ups of earwax

Old age

How can a Hearing Specialist Help with Tinnitus Management?

An audiologist can help you to manage tinnitus in a variety of different ways. This usually involves two stages: testing and treatment. They can conduct comprehensive assessments to identify the underlying causes of tinnitus and recommend appropriate interventions. Through counseling and sound therapy, hearing specialists can help individuals cope with the emotional and auditory challenges posed by tinnitus, ultimately improving their overall quality of life.

Testing

An audiologist may start by asking you questions – including questions about your ear health and general lifestyle – to get a better idea as to what could be causing your tinnitus. You will then usually undergo a hearing exam. This is held in a silent room where you will wear headphones and be asked to push a button every time you hear a noise. In the case of tinnitus, hearing exams may help determine the pitch and volume of your tinnitus, which can help when treating your tinnitus.

Many people who experience tinnitus also experience hearing loss. A hearing exam could be a chance to address both – working out which frequencies you cannot hear.

Treatment

Hearing aids are the most common form of treatment administered for tinnitus. How can a hearing aid help treat tinnitus? Hearing aids can be used to mask sounds by amplifying certain frequencies of environmental sounds around you. Many people find these environmental sounds much more relaxing than a single high-pitched frequency. A hearing aid could also be worth prescribing if you are also experiencing hearing loss. Such hearing aids can amplify the frequencies that you can’t hear while simultaneously masking the frequencies that are causing the ringing noises.

Hearing aids come in many different styles, including devices that are practically invisible. A hearing specialist will help guide you through the different devices that are appropriate for you. They can also teach you how to use your hearing aid – including how to clean it and maintain it.

Additionally, your audiologist can recommend tinnitus retraining therapy. This therapy involves a combination of sound therapy and counseling, where patients are exposed to low-level, soothing background sounds to reduce the perceived loudness of their tinnitus. There are also apps and devices that you can look into to help with tinnitus at night, like white noise machines. These are a useful alternative to hearing aids when lessening tinnitus-induced insomnia, as it is usually not recommended that you wear hearing aids while you sleep.

Schedule an Appointment with a Hearing Specialist Today

Don’t delay getting treatment for tinnitus. With the right hearing aid, you could find that day-to-day tasks are much more manageable. Here at Affordable Audiology & Hearing Service, you will be able to talk to highly qualified audiologists. You can start by scheduling a hearing test that will be able to measure the extent of your tinnitus and any accompanying hearing loss that you may have. To schedule a hearing test, call us today at (920) 267-5220.