Are you suffering from Tinnitus?
Have you ever experienced ringing, buzzing or hissing in your ears? If so, you are not alone. Tinnitus is a common hearing complaint which affects 15-20% of the population. People with tinnitus experience ringing or other noises in one or both of their ears.
The team at Hidden Hearing can identify and treat this condition and provide you relief.
People with tinnitus often experience hearing loss too. Our quick online tinnitus test can help you understand if you might have tinnitus and / or hearing loss and what you can do about it.
* The result of the test may only be used for guidance. Official conclusions about hearing loss/tinnitus can be provided by our certified hearing care experts.
* The result of the test may only be used for guidance. Official conclusions about hearing loss/tinnitus can be provided by our certified hearing care experts.
* The result of the test may only be used for guidance. Official conclusions about hearing loss/tinnitus can be provided by our certified hearing care experts.
* The result of the test may only be used for guidance. Official conclusions about hearing loss/tinnitus can be provided by our certified hearing care experts.
What causes tinnitus?
There are many possible causes of tinnitus. The most common cause is exposure to excessive noise, which damages the tiny hair cells in the inner ear. The ringing in your ears is the result of your brain trying to compensate for the loss of hair cells.
Common causes of ringing in the ears include:
Symptoms of tinnitus
Tinnitus (pronounced tin-ni-tus) affects about 15-20% of people and is commonly caused by hearing loss or an ear injury. Tinnitus is often experienced as a ringing in the ears that only you can hear, but it could also be any of the following sounds:
People with tinnitus can also experience hearing loss.
There is no cure for tinnitus, but there are many ways you can manage it and reduce its impact on your life. The following management techniques can be rather effective in turning a potentially negative and emotionally charged sound (tinnitus) into a neutral presence.
Sound therapy can provide relief from ringing in the ears
Although sound therapy cannot eliminate tinnitus, it can be a helpful tool for managing the symptoms. With sound therapy, you listen to different, carefully selected sounds, which can help you feel that your tinnitus is reduced or temporarily gone.
It then becomes easier to move your attention away from your tinnitus. Plus, it helps you to focus on something more pleasant. You can find the sound therapy that gives you the most effective relief from ringing in the ears by working together with your hearing care expert.
Sound therapy can be provided through:
Hearing aids not only help with hearing loss, they simultaneously mask the sound of tinnitus by amplifying the sounds around you. This can result in reduced listening effort, a perceived reduction in tinnitus volume, and an improved ability to communicate with ease.
In addition, most of our hearing aids offer sound therapy sounds that are customized to your individual needs and preferences.
View a list of our hearing aids with tinnitus masking features:
Tinnitus and hearing loss – do you have both?
Research shows that most people with tinnitus have some degree of hearing loss without being aware of it, and many of them can benefit from hearing aids.
80% of people with tinnitus also have hearing loss
Hearing aids can help transmit more sounds into the ear and brain, thereby making the symptoms of tinnitus less bothersome. Moreover, improved hearing helps you to focus on sounds other than tinnitus, and for many people, this improvement is enough to experience relief.
Some tinnitus sufferers become sensitive to places with constant talking or loud music, so they begin to avoid such social situations altogether. To others, it is so disturbing that a full night’s sleep can become difficult to achieve. Tinnitus, if left untreated, can lead to the following consequences:
Some people are able to ignore their tinnitus most of the time, but leaving it untreated can have a negative impact on your life if it is experienced over extended periods of time.
“Act early, when you start noticing changes in your hearing or feel people are not as clear as they used to be. Get in touch with your nearest Hidden Hearing clinic for a free screening.”
My name is Darren, I became an audiologist because I wanted to pursue a career in medicine, and Audiology caught my attention. On completing my studies, I began working with Hidden Hearing, and I can honestly say that it is the job of my dreams. It's challenging and rewarding in equal measure, and I get to make a positive difference, changing people's hearing and quality of life.
It’s wonderful to see patients maintain a stable degree of hearing function without decline. This was the case for one of my patients who has been attending appointments with me for the past 6 years. It validates the treatment I’ve prescribed and the 6-monthly monitoring and adjustments I’ve undertaken when treating their hearing loss. Each time a new audiogram is produced I review the data and hearing instrument usage providing the best solutions to fine tune his hearing aids.
I am saddened when a patient with hearing loss defers treatment. I appreciate that it takes time for patients to come to terms with their diagnosis, and hearing loss is stigmatised. As an audiologist, I am all too well aware of the impact of hearing loss on a patients social, psychological and mental wellbeing; however, the patient will ultimately decide what is best for them. Often, patients take time to process their diagnosis, make an informed decision and return for treatment. It thrills me to know they are taking control of their hearing health. It could be something very simple to fix like a build-up of wax or it could be a sudden loss which requires immediate attention.
