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Tips for Managing Tinnitus

Diagnose & Understand Your Tinnitus

Do you have a smartphone? Or maybe you have an actual sound meter? If so, then you can help us collect information about all the loud places people are exposed to in every day experiences in order to raise awareness of noise, hearing loss and tinnitus.

How Hearing Damage Occurs

Finding a cure for tinnitus is ATA’s mission and research is what’s going to get us there.

Over the last 10 years, scientists have made tremendous advances in figuring out what causes tinnitus and ways to treat it. And many of these advances have been made through human clinical trials.

There are many causes of tinnitus. These include noise exposure, injury to the head and/or neck, blood pressure and circulation problems, side effects of medications and, in some cases, allergies.

However, sometimes tinnitus can be managed by treating the underlying cause or by altering reactions to it. It is important to note that treatment outcomes vary depending on the specific cause of tinnitus, how long a patient has had tinnitus and other competing health factors.

Tinnitus has many causes: loud noise, head injury, acoustic nerve tumors, impacted earwax and ototoxic drugs. Ototoxic drugs (prescription and over-the-counter medications) are injurious or harmful to the ear- especially to the organs or nerves of the ear concerned with hearing and balance. These drugs can affect/worsen existing tinnitus or, in some cases, cause tinnitus as a side effect.

Flying on an airplane rarely causes tinnitus. Since aircraft cabins are pressurized, there are few cases of ear damage due to pressure changes (barotrauma), as might be found in activities like scuba diving. The noise in airplanes, however, can be a factor in exacerbating one's tinnitus.  
 

Consider the following suggestions when selecting a health care professional, including questions to ask, and then work with that professional to find the treatment or combination of treatments that works best for you. Regardless of which treatment you choose, your first step when making a health care decision should be to receive medical and audiological evaluations.

Getting a good night’s sleep can sometimes be difficult for people with tinnitus. The following information is pulled from Dhyan Cassie, Au.D.’s two-part article on “Getting a Good Night’s Sleep” to help provide tips and helpful information on how to get better rest.