Tinnitus What is it and what can I do about it? My Ears are ringing! What is it? Can you make it go away? Tinnitus, often described as a ringing or buzzing sound in the ear, is a symptom that can be related to almost every known hearing problem. Tinnitus is not a disease, but it can be caused by exposure to loud sounds, middle or inner ear infections, tumors on the hearing nerve, and even wax on the eardrum. Sometimes tinnitus can be medically or surgically treated. Your appointment with a physician at CEI is your opportunity to find out about treatment options for you. It is not always possible for your physician to determine the cause of your tinnitus; each case is different. The same cause will not necessarily produce the same set of symptoms in each patient. Tinnitus is a common problem, affecting about 17% of the general population and causing significant suffering in many cases. Many patients have learned to live with this problem but for some, living with it is very problematic. For those patients CEI Hearing Device Center offers some help.

Hearing Device Center Resources How We Hear Do I really need a hearing device How do I get a hearing device Assistive listening devices Tinnitus Cochlear Implant Acoustics Analog or Digital Difference Assistive Listening Devices for the Classroom ADD Disorder & Hearing Impairment Central Auditory Processing Disorder Common Causes of Hearing Impairment in Children Common Causes of Hearing Impairment in Seniors Hearing Aid Trial Period Phone Devices for the Hearing Impaired Service Animals - Just not for the blind

With Hearing Devices…
We know that if a person has tinnitus and also has a hearing loss, they may derive considerable relief from the tinnitus when they are using their hearing device. In many cases the relief is dramatic and complete. For some the relief may be a reduced perception of the ringing.

Tinnitus Maskers

Masking devices resemble hearing devices and are designed to produce low-level sound that can reduce and in some cases eliminate the perception of tinnitus. Masking can also produce the phenomenon of residual inhibition, where the reduction or elimination of tinnitus perception continues for a short time after the masker is removed.

Tinnitus Retraining Therapy

Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) combines low-level steady background sounds with one-on-one patient/clinician directive counseling. The patient enriches his or her background sound environment for a minimum of eight hours a day usually with in the ear sound generators. This combination of therapies helps people habituate (essentially grow unaware of) the sound of their tinnitus. Tinnitus Retraining Therapy can take 12-24 months before a patient no longer needs the in the ear sound generators. The goal of TRT is to have the patient no longer aware of their tinnitus (habituation) except when they focus their attention on it, and even then the tinnitus is not annoying or bothersome.

Tinnitus evaluation and retraining therapy is a speciality of CEI Otologists, Click here for more information.

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