Hear Sarasota Audiology
Tinnitus
Tinnitus is commonly described as a ringing in the ears, but it also can sound like roaring, clicking, hissing, or buzzing. It may be soft or loud, high pitched or low pitched. You might hear it in either one or both ears. Roughly 10 percent of the adult population of the United States has experienced tinnitus lasting at least five minutes in the past year.
About Tinnitus
Each year about 1 in 10 adults nationwide has an episode of tinnitus that lasts longer than 3 months. Tinnitus isn’t a disease. Instead, it’s a symptom that something is wrong with your auditory system. The problem may exist somewhere in your ear, in the nerve that connects the inner ear to the brain or in the parts of the brain that make sense of sounds.
Because tinnitus can arise from so many conditions, ranging from hearing loss to high blood pressure to medications, diagnosing the cause or causes can be a challenge. For many people, the ringing in their ears begins for no obvious reason.
The experimental treatment in this study combines educational counseling with a sound-generation device. Called tinnitus retraining therapy, the approach has shown promise in earlier trials and appears to ease the annoyance of tinnitus and its impact on people’s lives.
Tinnitus Support Group
Please join us for Hear Sarasota’s monthly Tinnitus Support Group, co-hosted with Manatee Speech and Hearing.
When: Second Saturday of Every Month
Where: Manatee Speech and Hearing
701 Manatee Ave W ST 201
Bradenton, FL 3420
Tinnitus Treatments
Hearing Aids
Hearing aids often are helpful for people who have hearing loss along with tinnitus. Using a hearing aid adjusted to carefully control outside sound levels may make it easier for you to hear. The better you hear, the less you may notice your tinnitus.
Tabletop Sound Generators
Acoustic Neural Stimulation
Acoustic neural stimulation uses a palm-sized device and headphones to deliver a broadband acoustic signal embedded in music. The treatment helps stimulate change in the neural circuits in the brain, which eventually desensitizes you to the tinnitus.
Counseling
Wearable Sound Generators
Cochlear Implants
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL)
Do You Have NIHL?
What is NIHL?
Every day, we experience sound in our environment. Normally, these sounds are at safe levels that don’t damage our hearing. But sounds can be harmful when they are too loud, even for a brief time. These sounds can damage sensitive structures in the inner ear and cause noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).
NIHL can be immediate yet take a long time to be noticeable. It may be temporary or permanent, and it can affect one ear or both ears. Even if you can’t tell that you are damaging your hearing, you could have trouble hearing in the future. Regardless of how it might affect you, noise-induced hearing loss is something you can prevent.
Signs of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
When you are exposed to a loud noise or noises, you may slowly start to lose your hearing. Over time, sounds may become distorted or muffled, and you might find it difficult to understand other people when they talk or have to turn up the volume on the television. An extremely loud burst of sound can rupture the eardrum or damage the bones in the middle ear.
Loud noise exposure can also cause tinnitus, a ringing, buzzing, or roaring in the ears or head. Tinnitus may subside over time but can continue constantly or occasionally throughout a person’s life. Hearing loss and tinnitus can occur in one or both ears.
If you think you’re experiencing noise-induced hearing loss, contact us today to schedule a tinnitus consultation. We can help determine the cause of your tinnitus and discuss different treatment options that are right for you.
From Our Clients
“Dr Massey spent quite a bit of time to make sure my hearing aids worked as best as they could He showed with patience and knowledge how to hear better through an app on my phone I would highly recommend him I’m hearing so much better because of a caring physician Kudos to dr Massey!”