Tinnitus Treatment Plans

Almost anything that can affect a person’s hearing can lead to tinnitus. The following have been identified as potential causes of tinnitus:

Earwax: Impacted earwax can put pressure on the hearing system, causing tinnitus.
Exposure to extreme noise: Both long-term exposure and sudden loud noises can trigger a permanent hearing loss that results in tinnitus.
Hearing loss: Having to strain to hear can raise tinnitus levels.
Meniere’s disease: A medical condition that also causes dizziness, nausea, and fluctuating hearing loss.
Some medications: Tinnitus can be a side effect of common medicines such as antibiotics and arthritis pills.
Stress and fatigue: Elevated stress and a poor sleep can make tinnitus worse.
Caffeine: Tea, coffee, cola, and chocolate can all increase the severity of tinnitus, along with food and drinks containing quinine.
Smoking: This can cause tinnitus by restricting the blood flow through your ear canal and limiting the supply of Oxygen.
Alcohol: Red wine and champagne are well known for triggering tinnitus.
Pregnancy, anemia and an overactive thyroid can cause certain types of tinnitus.
Jaw joint misalignment or muscles of the ear or throat “twitching” can cause a “clicking” type of tinnitus

Your Individualised Treatment Plan

The best place to start is a full hearing assessment to try to identify the underlying cause of tinnitus. Based findings of that assessment, we will develop a plan that may include one or several of the following interventions:

Earwax removal
Free smartphone app
Counselling
Headphones
Bluetooth streaming device
Therapeutic noise generator
Discreet hearing devices

* If the assessment reveals significant hearing loss, we may advise you that a hearing aid is likely to reduce or, in some cases, completely alleviate the condition.

Further options

We may also recommend an consultation with a Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist who can prescribe medical treatments. Following successful surgical treatment for some ear problems (e.g. otosclerosis or middle ear effusion), tinnitus may fade away.

A tinnitus masker is another option to help manage the condition where hearing loss is not present. While it looks like a hearing aid, it actually produces a blend of external sounds that stimulate hearing nerve fibers, helping deviate attention away from the tinnitus.

Clinical psychologists often recommend Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) where other treatments have failed. This therapy can be effective for some people to help alleviate distress and help them adjust to tinnitus. The function of CBT is threefold:

1.   It changes the way a person perceives their tinnitus
2.   It teaches individuals how to focus attention away from tinnitus
3.   It helps people achieve control over their stress.

Finally, if we suspect that tinnitus is related to a jaw alignment problem, we will recommend consulting your dentist.

Tinnitus Treatment Plans

Request a tinnitus evaluation today!