Tinnitus Evaluations and Treatment
Tinnitus is a common symptom of hearing loss, and can even be present in those without hearing loss. Tinnitus is described as buzzing, ringing, humming, whistling, or clicking noises in one or both ears. Many people experience transient tinnitus, where the ears will ring for a short time and then go away completely. In others it can become more bothersome- disrupting sleep and interfering with the ability to complete tasks. While there is no cure for tinnitus, there are effective ways to manage it and alleviate stress it may cause.
Tinnitus Treatment
Dr. Sacco provides counseling and treatment options to alleviate the perception of tinnitus. Counseling services provide psychological strategies and lifestyle choices that are the best place to start when addressing tinnitus. In addition to counseling, we offer two treatment options with the goal of decreasing an individual’s perception of their tinnitus. Both treatment options use sound therapy, which is the most common way to manage tinnitus. Sound therapy works by masking the tinnitus with low level noise, which can include nature sounds, white noise, music, etc.
Tinnitus Evaluations
Carlyle Services provides tinnitus evaluations, which is an extension of the standard hearing test and includes extended frequency testing to identify any areas where there may be hearing loss beyond the standard testing range. During a regular audiological evaluation, we test between 250-8000 Hz which encompasses most speech and environmental sounds we hear throughout the day. In a tinnitus evaluation, we extend that range beyond 12,500 Hz to understand the full hearing ability. The tinnitus evaluation also includes tinnitus pitch and quality matching, where we define the frequency and characteristics of an individual’s tinnitus.
Neuromonics
Neuromonics is an industry leader in sound therapy, and consists of listening to personalized sound therapy via OasisPro, an application that allows you to access the sound therapy via iPhone, iPad, or other smart devices. Neuromonics has created a sophisticated algorithm, which takes an individual’s hearing thresholds to create spectrally modified music customized to your hearing. The customized music retrains your brain over the course of treatment to ignore the tinnitus and decrease negative reactions to tinnitus. Neuromonics has an excellent success rate, with 83% of users reporting a significant decrease in the perception of their tinnitus. OasisPro can also be used with hearing aids, to combine the benefits of hearing aids and sound therapy for tinnitus.
Hearing Aids for Tinnitus
By addressing the hearing loss and increasing perception of your environment, the tinnitus can be less noticeable. Additionally, many hearing aid models include built in tinnitus features which provide sound therapy at your control throughout the day. Many patients are successful with these devices by addressing their hearing loss, and adding in sound therapy throughout the day as needed.
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