Sound Therapy Options For Treating Your Tinnitus
Posted on: 25 July 2017
Tinnitus has several different causes so there is no one standard cure that works for everyone. The first step is a medical examination to find out if medication or an illness is the root cause. If so, changing medications or treating the illness could clear up your tinnitus. However, it's possible your tinnitus is permanent and possibly associated with hearing loss. While it might not be possible to cure it, there are ways to treat your tinnitus so it doesn't bother you so much. Sound therapy is one of the treatments that can help. Here are some types of sound therapy to try.
White Noise Machines
Your tinnitus may not bother you during the day because of all the noise in your environment. Then, at night when it gets quiet, all you can hear is the ringing in your ears. One possible way to combat the problem with ringing at night is to use a white noise machine. These machines make a variety of noises that lull you to sleep while blocking out the ringing in your ears.
You can buy a white noise machine that has different settings for sounds such as a fan blowing, raining, waves lapping the shore, and other consistent gentle sounds. You could even just buy a floor fan and turn it on when you're ready to go to sleep if that particular sound helps with your tinnitus. You may have to try a variety of sounds to find something that doesn't keep you awake and that drowns out the ringing in your ears.
A Hearing Aid With A Tinnitus Masker
You can buy a hearing aid designed to mask the sounds of tinnitus ringing. The advantage of getting a hearing aid is that you'll get professional help choosing a sound therapy device that works for you. Plus, a hearing aid will be helpful if you also have some hearing loss along with your tinnitus. These special hearing aids emit sounds that cover up the annoying ringing you hear in your ears. They are useful when your tinnitus bothers you all the time, even when you're surrounded by environmental noise as you go about your day.
Retraining Devices
Another way a hearing professional can help is with the use of a retraining device. These are similar to a white noise machine, but instead of just covering up the ringing in your ears, they also have therapeutic value. When you turn off your fan, the ringing in your ears is noticeable again. The effects from a notched-sound retraining device are longer lasting and you may receive benefits after the sound therapy session is over. You usually listen to the device at set times during the day to train your ears to habituate to the sound of the ringing. So, while the ringing won't necessarily go away, it fades into the background so you don't notice it as much.
Tinnitus is often a very annoying condition, especially if noises tend to bother you. When you focus on the ringing, tinnitus can give you anxiety or cause depression since you can't escape the bothersome sound. Seeking professional help is the best way to find relief so you can live with your condition without it disrupting your life.
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