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SHC- Tinnitus Information
Tinnitus Prevention
“You may be able to prevent ringing in the ears”
- Limit or avoid exposure to loud noises, such as music, power tools, gunshots, and industrial machinery.
- Wear protective earplugs or earmuffs if you cannot avoid loud noises. Do not use wadded-up tissue or cotton balls, these do not protect adequately against loud noises, especially the more dangerous high frequencies, and they may become lodged in the ear canal.
- Be careful when using stereo headphones, if the music is so loud that others can hear it clearly or you can’t hear other sounds around you, then the volume is too high.
- Caffeine is one of the most common tinnitus aggravators and should be very limited. Coffee, tea, caffeinated colas, and chocolate all contain significant amounts of caffeine capable of constricting blood flow to the ear.
- Cut back or stop drinking alcohol and beverages containing caffeine.
- Do not smoke or use smokeless tobacco products. Nicotine use may cause tinnitus by reducing blood flow to the structures of the ear.
- Exercise regularly, it may prevent tinnitus because it improves blood flow to the structures of the ear.
- A low-salt diet is also recommended by many medical providers, so hide that salt-shakers and watch the sodium content of foods you eat.
- Maintain a healthy weight. Tinnitus occurs more frequently in obese adults.
- Almost everyone experiences an occasional ringing (or roaring, hiss, buzz, or tinkling) in their ears; most tinnitus that comes and goes requires no medical treatment. But if your tinnitus is accompanied by other symptoms, becomes persistent, or starts to localize to one ear, visit an Audiologist specialised in tinnitus.
Tinnitus Treatment
- Treatment of tinnitus should not be done/ received without proper medical/ audiological consultation.
- Even if a specific cause is never found, there is still hope for successful treatment.
- Behavioral therapy and counseling can improve your well-being by helping you reduce the impact of tinnitus on your life.
- Education about tinnitus can reduce anxiety by helping you recognize that the condition, in most cases, is unlikely to be linked to a serious medical condition. Through counseling, you can learn coping techniques and strategies to avoid making symptoms worse, such as by limiting your exposure to loud noise.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy teaches you how to identify negative thoughts that can cause you distress. Your counsellor will train you to change your response to negative thoughts and to focus on positive changes you can make to reduce the impact of tinnitus on your life. Studies have shown that this type of therapy can help improve the well-being of people with the condition.
- Tinnitus retraining therapy uses counseling and sound therapy to “retrain” the brain, both emotionally and physiologically, so that you no longer notice your tinnitus. The counseling aspect of therapy aims to help you reclassify tinnitus sounds as neutral, while the continuous low-level sound from a device worn in the ear helps you get used to the presence of tinnitus.
- Medications There are no medications specifically for treating tinnitus, but your doctor may prescribe antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications to improve your mood or help you sleep. While certain vitamins, herbal extracts, and dietary supplements are commonly advertised as cures for the condition, none of these has been proven to be effective.
- Special hearing aids (when tinnitus is present with hearing loss) electronic masking devices, or both, are often used. Cochlear implants and cochlear stimulation devices are being investigated for severe, intractable tinnitus cases.