Learning About Allergies and Asthma Learning About Allergies and Asthma

People rely on their ears and hearing to interact with the world around them. So, when they begin to hear ringing sounds in their ears, they likely assume that they are hearing something that is ringing externally. However, if the ringing stays with you wherever you go and nobody else is hearing it, you are likely suffering from a condition commonly referred to as tinnitus. Get to know some of the treatment options for your tinnitus to help you feel better and try to control the ringing you experience in your ears.

Make Sure You Do Not Have An Additional Infection

Sometimes tinnitus is a symptom of another illness such as an ear infection or a sinus infection. To be sure that you are not simply experiencing the side effects of a lingering infection, you will want to go to your primary care doctor or an ear nose and throat specialist to determine whether or not you have such an infection.

If you do, treating the bacterial or fungal infection with prescription medications may help to reduce the ringing in your ears or rid you of it entirely. This is one of the easier potential solutions to your ringing ears.

Maskers

If you do not have an infection or other obvious health issue that is causing the ringing in your ears, you may need to shift the focus of your treatment from "curing" your tinnitus and instead think about how you can manage it. An audiologist can help you find ways to manage your tinnitus such as with maskers.

Maskers are devices that are designed to emit competing sounds that can balance out or drown out the ringing in your ears. These maskers can be environmental, meaning you have an audio device for your home or bedroom that cancels out the ringing in your ears. For work, school, and other outings, you can opt for a masker that you wear on your ears. They serve the same purpose, but on a smaller scale.

Hearing Aids

Tinnitus can sometimes accompany or cause hearing loss as well as being distracting and overwhelming. In such cases, hearing aids may be the best solution. Customized hearing aids from an audiologist can help you to hear more clearly in two ways.

First of all, your hearing aids will amplify the sound around you. And secondly, these aids may be able to provide stimuli (much like the maskers) through broadband sound generation that will offset the tone of the ringing in your ears. This can provide you with relief whenever you are wearing your hearing aids.

With these treatment options in mind, you can be sure that you are doing what you can to treat your tinnitus and begin to feel and hear better as soon as possible.