Tinnitus is the awareness of experiencing different sounds within the ears periodically or continuously. Tinnitus involves perceiving internal sounds like hissing, buzzing, or ringing without any external acoustic source. There are two forms of tinnitus, subjective and objective. Subjective means that the individual with tinnitus can only hear it, while for objective tinnitus, others can also hear the sound, which is very rare. As of right now, there is no permanent cure for people dealing with tinnitus. It isn’t easy to articulate individual experiences to treat tinnitus since it is mostly subjective. If you are looking for ways to get relief from the frustrating experience of tinnitus, you have come to the right place. Here are a few relief tips and remedies to cope with tinnitus.
1. Use a Tinnitus Masker (Sound Machine, Sound Therapy)
Tinnitus maskers are compact and specifically engineered devices that can help alleviate the effect of tinnitus. Tinnitus maskers produce pleasant acoustic sounds to mask the noise in your ear. Consider your tinnitus as a bright lamp in a dark room that is attracting your attention and is in most cases, somewhat disturbing or inconvenient. Tinnitus maskers provide another sound and act as an overhead light that diverts attention away from the lamp’s light. In addition to diverting attention, the light emitted from the overhead light is intended to be much more tolerable.
There are several hearing aids that can act as tinnitus maskers by sending sounds to help alleviate and manage tonal tinnitus. This combination can be very beneficial for individuals afflicted by both by allowing individuals to reap the benefits of each technology at the same time. However, it is important to note that not all hearing aids act as tinnitus maskers and not all tinnitus maskers are delivered through hearing aids. Some tinnitus masking takes the form of a mobile app or stand-alone hardware solution like a sound machine or sound therapy.
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2. Use Meditation to Manage Ringing Ears
The problem with tinnitus is that it’s attention-seeking in nature and it may become mentally taxing to the point where it is all an individual can think about. Meditation may be capable of helping reduce the severity of tinnitus. The concept of meditation as a remedy is to retrain the individual’s mind to acknowledge the presence of tinnitus while diverting attention away from it at the same time. Stress and a variety of factors have been known to exacerbate tinnitus for individuals. Meditation has also been used by many individuals to bring a sense of calmness to their lives. By bringing down stress levels, one may also be able to reduce the severity of their tinnitus.
3. Lower Usage or Quit Caffeine, Alcohol and Tobacco Products
Caffeine products can act as a nerve stimulant, which may trigger your tinnitus. Different sources of caffeine and alcohol can increase the blood pressure that can also trigger tinnitus symptoms. The nicotine from tobacco products can also increase the symptoms of tinnitus. Nicotine can decrease the oxygen level in blood vessels that get sent to your ear by narrowing them and it has been known to cause high blood pressure. Both of the effects on the body may lead to an increase in tinnitus.
4. Reduce the Volume
Exposure to loud sounds for a long time can damage the hearing nerves, consequently causing hearing loss and tinnitus. Reduce the volume of your devices or use hearing protection to avoid exposure to sounds when in loud environments. For a significant number of individuals, making these changes may help prevent any further damage to your hearing and lessen the severity of your tinnitus.
5. Use Sound Therapy
AudioCardio is one of the leading sound therapy apps on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Sound therapy is one of the best-known treatments for relieving tinnitus. It involves the introduction of an external sound to help change the perception of the individual’s tinnitus. Tinnitus is typically a symptom of hearing loss and may indicate the individual’s hearing may not be as strong as it once was. AudioCardio’s underlying technology, TSC, is intended to strengthen an individual’s hearing and as a result, it may help with reducing the severity of tinnitus. Many of AudioCardio’s best customers are individuals who suffer from tonal tinnitus, or the type of tinnitus that has a specific pitch or tone. Sound Speech and Hearing Clinic in San Francisco recently conducted a survey with tinnitus patients who used AudioCardio and more than 84% confirmed that they had a positive and substantial effect with AudioCardio.
6. Exercise
Regular exercises lead towards better blood flow and good mental and physical well-being. Exercising can help individuals regulate mental triggers such as sleep deprivation, high blood pressure, anxiety, or mental stress. Various studies show that proper training can positively counter the effects of tinnitus. Avoid exercising in environments where loud music is being played, which could worsen your tinnitus. If you’re using a hearing device (headphones, earbuds, hearing aids) while exercising, remember to take breaks every hour to give your ears some time to rest and to keep the volume below 60% of its full capability.
7. Counseling
The objective of behavioral therapies is to change the perception of tinnitus symptoms. The counseling techniques mentioned below can help with managing the physical and mental toll on an individual’s mind.
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT): TRT is an individualized counseling program administered by audiologists. These hearing professionals incorporate some form of sound therapy along with personal counseling during a session to help with habituating the tinnitus. Over time, it should help individuals with normalizing tinnitus so that it’s not a distraction to their daily lives.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT): There is a strong correlation between tinnitus and stress. A psychologist can help the individuals by providing them with better-coping techniques to make tinnitus less bothersome. The goal is to change the negative automatic thought to a more positive and realistic one. As a result, individuals that suffer from tinnitus can function well despite the presence of tinnitus.
Conclusion
We hope that this list of relief tips and remedies help with providing more comfort and relief from tinnitus. Keep in mind that these solutions take time, effort and a bit of trial and error. Not all tinnitus is the same and no one solution will work for all unique cases.
AudioCardio is a technology company focused on hearing health and wellness. Learn how AudioCardio can help maintain and strengthen your hearing with your favorite headphones or hearing aids at www.audiocardio.com.
