4 FAQs About Tinnitus

Tinnitus is something that is described as an ear-ringing problem, and yet if you have ever experienced a constant buzzing or low hissing noise in either one or both of your ears, then there’s every chance that you have experienced it. It’s not a condition that indicates a hearing loss, but it’s one that is an annoyance. Tinnitus can have a huge impact on your quality of life in ways that you didn’t prepare for.

You may not be losing your hearing, but you could feel like you’re losing your mind if your tinnitus is chronic. There are questions that you will have for an audiologist, who is the one person who can answer said questions. According to the research, more than 50 million people experience tinnitus. Here are four of those questions that are asked the most at audiology appointments:

1. How did I get it?

Tinnitus is not something that happens overnight. This is a condition that is often the result of a build-up of damage over time, and you can develop it for several different reasons, which include:

• Noise exposure
• Earwax buildup
• Hearing loss
• Head trauma
• Ototoxic medication

2. Am I losing my hearing?

The shortest answer here is that no, it doesn’t mean that you are losing your hearing. It can be linked to hearing loss, though, and you should book an appointment with an audiologist to figure out if this is the case for you. Your ears will work harder to hear sounds in your everyday life, so while your hearing may not be lost, you need to manage the condition.

3. Can I stop it?

As of this moment, there is no known cure for tinnitus. You can mask the noise so that you pay less attention to it, through hearing aids with a masking feature or a sound machine. Additionally, tinnitus retraining therapy is another successful method of relieving the condition. This treatment retrains your brain to ignore and block out the tinnitus sounds.

4. Is this chronic?

It can be a condition that is chronic, and of all the people who experience tinnitus, most of them find that it still lasts after six months, which does define their tinnitus as a chronic condition.

If you are currently experiencing tinnitus regularly, schedule an appointment with an audiologist to find the relief you need.