While there is no cure for tinnitus, don’t tell patients there is nothing they can do. Many treatment options exist to ease the burden and help in the management of the condition.
By Shari Eberts
A Case Study: Are You Helping Your Clients Manage Tinnitus?
Mary has hearing loss, and also tinnitus. Sometimes it sounds like a screech. Other times, it’s more of a buzz. She finds the tinnitus distressing, even more than her hearing loss, and she is terrified because its volume is increasing. A few times the ringing has been loud enough to block out other sounds, including speech.
Searching for ideas on the internet, she’s had trouble parsing through fake herbal remedies and false claims to identify workable strategies that might help. But when she asks her doctor or hearing care professional about it, they tell her she just needs to get used to it. There is nothing that can be done.
But that is not the case. While there is no cure for tinnitus, there are ways to ease its burden.
Meditation Changed My Tinnitus Story
I’ve had tinnitus almost as long as I’ve had hearing loss. For many years my tinnitus was problematic, rearing its loud and ugly head at seemingly random times. It reminded me of the sound a fluorescent light makes as it comes on—a pop followed by a high-pitched hum of varying volumes and durations. Today, I am one of the lucky ones. My tinnitus flares up in the winter as temperatures cool but remains under wraps most other times. I credit yoga and meditation for the improvement.
I first meditated during a yoga retreat at a beautiful Zen Center in Crestone, Colorado. Each morning, we had the opportunity to meditate with the monks in residence. They showed us how to sit and how to breathe and invited us to join them in a beautiful meditation space.
After a few days, each time I would meditate, my tinnitus would melt away. I’ve been meditating ever since.
Further reading: Support People with Hearing Loss Outside the Clinic
Coping Mechanisms for Tinnitus to Share with Patients
While no cure exists, many ways to help cope with tinnitus do. Miracle herbs or supplements found online may tempt clients, but most are too good to be true. Recommend these proven methods to your patients with tinnitus instead. They will be grateful for the relief they provide.
1. Masking the Sound
One way to reduce the impact of tinnitus is to mask it with other sounds. The influx of ambient noise through hearing aids can help mask unwanted ringing. Some come with a tinnitus setting that can be programmed to offset the specific tone of your tinnitus. Playing quiet music in the background or using white noise machines can also help mask tinnitus.
2. Meditation and Mindfulness Practices
Tinnitus can be stressful, and stress is also known to bring on tinnitus. Mindfulness practices can break this vicious cycle, replacing it with a calmer outlook. Meditating sounds hard, but sit quietly for 10 minutes in a restful posture and you are doing it. Counting breaths is an easy way to stay focused and present. Count 1 on the inhale and 2 on the exhale up to 100, and then start again. Patients can also use a mindfulness app for guided meditations.
Even if the tinnitus remains, these moments of relaxation are likely to help them better cope with the frustration of tinnitus, lessening its impact on their life.
3. Peer Support
Sharing traumatic experiences with others in the same boat is therapeutic. Not only do patients feel less alone, but they may also learn techniques for easing the emotional strain. There are many Facebook groups for people with tinnitus, but they are of various quality. Find a few reputable ones that you can recommend to your patients. Feel free to join some yourself to gain deeper insight into the tinnitus experience.
4. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) uses relaxation, discussion, and problem-solving skills to change the way a person responds to negative stimuli. It was developed for other mental health applications, but it can work for tinnitus too.
CBT aims to retrain your patient’s emotional response to tinnitus, reducing its impact on their daily life. The tinnitus may not go away, but their reaction to it lessens. CBT is often conducted one-on-one with a trained professional, but apps are also available when individual counseling is not possible.
Add Tinnitus Counseling to Your Practice
Helping your clients manage all aspects of their communication life, including the unwanted complications of hearing loss like tinnitus, will help cement your position as a trusted partner in all aspects of their hearing care.
Shari Eberts is a passionate hearing health advocate and internationally recognized author and speaker. She is the founder of Living with Hearing Loss, a popular blog for people with hearing loss, and an executive producer of “We Hear You,” an award-winning documentary about the hearing loss experience. Her award-winning book, “Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss” (co-authored with Gael Hannan), is the ultimate survival guide to living well with hearing loss. Eberts has an adult-onset genetic hearing loss and hopes that by sharing her story, she will help others to live more peacefully with their own hearing issues.
Photo: Dreamstime
Original citation for this article: Eberts S. Tinnitus Management: There ARE Options. Hearing Review. 2024;31(8):12.
