Carolina Hearing Doctors has audiologists providing tinnitus evaluations in North Carolina. Our clinics are located in Winston-Salem and Clemmons, NC.
Tinnitus is a common condition where people hear ringing, buzzing, or hissing sounds when there’s no actual sound present. It is often low level but can be heightened with stress, fatigue, and loud sound exposure.
Tinnitus is a symptom of a variety of ear and non-ear conditions such as hearing loss, ear wax, ear infections, circulation, and some neurologic problems. For this reason, it is crucial to have it examined with a thorough evaluation with an audiologist.
Carolina Hearing Doctors connects you to audiologists in North Carolina specializing in tinnitus and related hearing concerns.
Our initial goal is to examine the likely causes of tinnitus so we catch concerning health problems early and then also guide you to the most appropriate treatment.
Understanding what makes someone’s tinnitus unique helps us create a personalized plan to manage it. These plans might include therapy, counseling, or sometimes even medicine, depending on what’s causing the tinnitus.
How common is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a widespread condition that affects more than 50 million Americans. People with tinnitus hear ringing in their ears, which can come and go or stay constant. It can be mild or severe, and the sound might range from a low roar to a high-pitched noise. Many people with tinnitus also have hearing loss.
What causes tinnitus?
Tinnitus isn’t a disease itself but instead it’s a sign of changes in the ear or the brain. Our ears are complex, with microscopic structures and pathways to the brain that form our auditory network. Tinnitus can be a response to many different changes along this pathway.
Tinnitus can sound like ringing, buzzing, hissing, or other noise in your ears or your head. It might be soft or loud, constant or intermittent, and often noticed most when things are quiet.
Approximately 50 million Americans notice tinnitus and 2 million of those judge it to be loud enough to affect their quality of life.
Tinnitus is associated with many different conditions that may trigger or stimulate it:
Ear Related
- Hearing loss
- Family history
- Inner ear damage from noise exposure
- Ongoing ear disease
- Fullness related to sinus infection
- Impacted earwax
- Trauma
Vascular
- High blood pressure
- Cardiovascular conditions
- Changes in blood flow
- After stroke
Brain
- Neurologic conditions
- Trauma
- After stroke
- Certain types of tumors
Other
- Stress
- Certain medications
- High intake of caffeine, sodium, alcohol
- Sinus infections
- Jaw misalignment
- Thyroid disorders
- Head and neck trauma
Tinnitus Management and Treatment Options
Exposure to loud noises and hearing loss are the most common causes of tinnitus. Treating the hearing loss is often a first and most successful treatment. There are also other new treatments that work well. But every treatment starts with a thorough ear and hearing examination to rule out the other conditions that may need different medical treatment.
Once medical conditions are ruled out then the most most common treatments focus on three things:
- Making your hearing better so you notice the tinnitus less.
- Helping you adapt to the tinnitus so it bothers you less.
- Using devices that make it harder to notice the tinnitus.
Hearing Better
85% of hearing loss can be effectively treated with hearing aids. This also holds true for treating tinnitus as well. By improving your awareness of sounds that you have been missing you also become less aware of the noise inside your ears. Overwhelmingly this is the most effective treatment.
Adaptation
When hearing improvement is not enough, or when it is not necessary, several behavioral therapies and biofeedback techniques are used to help listeners adapt to the tinnitus.
Tinnitus Masking
In more severe cases where hearing enhancement and behavioral therapies are not helpful, devices using specialized sounds may be used to cover or mask the tinnitus with another, less intrusive sound.
Pharmaceutical Treatments
Drug therapies and treatments are usually not used for tinnitus treatment. Since tinnitus is associated with so many different conditions (see above) there are no drug therapies aimed at eliminating the tinnitus. Therefore, it is more important to treat any medical conditions and by improving those you may improve your tinnitus.
In severe cases some people find relief from their tinnitus with antidepressants or anti-anxiety medicines. By calming the mind and body it can make the person less bothered by the noise. But these medicines can also cause other problems that are commonly worse than the tinnitus itself.
If tinnitus happens with other ear problems like Meniere’s disease, treating those problems can often make the tinnitus quieter too.
Are there herbal remedies for tinnitus?
On the internet, you can find many herbal products that claim to help with tinnitus. Unlike medicines approved by the FDA, these herbal treatments are not regulated. This means they don’t have to prove they work before they are sold. Anyone can make an herbal product and say it helps with any health problem.
Before buying or using herbal products for tinnitus, it would be best to consult with an audiologist first.
Tinnitus Evaluations in North Carolina
Finding relief from ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus, isn’t easy.
It takes time and trying different approaches to discover what works best for you. Everyone’s hearing loss is different, which means the challenges they face are unique, too. That’s where we come in.
As Doctors of Audiology, we’re here to give you the most precise diagnosis possible to help improve your hearing. We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions. Instead, we customize each treatment plan to fit your specific needs. Our goal is to find the right solution that works best for you.
Carolina Hearing Doctors provides comprehensive hearing solutions and tinnitus evaluations in Winston-Salem and Clemmons, NC.
Contact us today to schedule an appointment!
