How Diet Affects Your Hearing Health
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3 Treatment Options for Tinnitus
Tinnitus is often thought of as a mild and temporary issue, but in some cases, it can have a dramatic impact on your quality of life. If you are experiencing severe tinnitus symptoms, or you experience regular bouts of tinnitus, it’s wise to seek professional advice. There are treatment options available for tinnitus, and these therapies and remedies could have a very positive effect on your health and wellbeing.
There may not always be a quick fix for tinnitus, but there are treatments available to reduce the severity of tinnitus. With recurrent episodes of tinnitus, it’s best to seek help from a hearing health professional, as tinnitus can get worse with time, and sometimes, it is connected with hearing loss. There are various types of treatment for tinnitus, including:
1. Hearing aids with masking features
Hearing aids are devices that are programmed to improve hearing by capturing and amplifying sound. In cases where an individual has hearing loss and tinnitus, the symptoms of tinnitus are often exacerbated by the deterioration of hearing. If you can’t hear other noises, bird song or traffic sounds, this makes the sounds caused by tinnitus seem louder and more noticeable. To combat tinnitus and enhance hearing, hearing aids with masking features may be recommended. Traditional hearing aids can help to fill the void created by hearing loss, which can ease tinnitus symptoms, but it’s also possible to use a hearing aid with masking features. This type of hearing aid generates low level, background noise, which can provide a distraction from the humming and ringing sounds you hear as a result of tinnitus.
2. Sound machines
Sound machines are often used to help people who struggle to sleep. When it’s quiet outside, the noises you hear in your ears become louder and more obvious, and this makes getting to sleep difficult. Sound machines produce soothing sounds, which can distract your brain from the signs of tinnitus and make them less noticeable. Instead of focusing on the whooshing or humming sounds, you have a different noise to concentrate on, and this can aid sleep and make you feel more relaxed.
3. Tinnitus retraining therapy
Also known as TRT, tinnitus retraining therapy is a form of treatment, which aims to teach your brain to ignore the internal sounds you hear in your ears. The goal is to train the brain to respond differently to tinnitus, so that you become less aware of it, and you’re able to tune out and switch off. This option is often beneficial for those who have severe symptoms.
Which type of treatment is best for me?
If you are experiencing tinnitus, and your symptoms are affecting your day to day life, seek advice from a hearing health professional. Treatments will be recommended based on your symptoms, the quality of your hearing and the frequency with which you experience tinnitus. A hearing care provider can give you more information about treatment types so that you understand what is involved and how different treatments work.
If you’re struggling with tinnitus, there are effective treatments out there, and a hearing specialist will be able to offer guidance and support.
Knowing when to seek help from your audiologist can save you time and hassle when it comes to hearing aid repairs. While day-to-day maintenance can help to minimize the risk of issues, there are times when professional hearing aid repairs will be needed.
To ensure you get the best performance from your hearing devices and to increase their lifespan, always seek advice from your audiologist when:
Your hearing aids won’t turn on
If you’ve changed the batteries in your device and they still won’t turn on, hearing aid repairs are certainly going to be needed! Similarly, if the device turns on but doesn’t enhance your hearing function in any way, you’re going to need assistance from your audiologist.
Your hearing aid whistles
Some people accept intermittent whistling as part of wearing a hearing aid, but you don’t need to put up with regular feedback or whistling coming from your hearing aids. If your hearing devices are producing more feedback than usual or whistling more often, your audiologist will be able to determine why.
In some cases, excess whistling can be caused by poorly fitted hearing aids, so your audiologist may need to provide you with another earmold or earpiece. Alternatively, adjusting the fit may get rid of excess feedback.
However, speaker issues and microphone problems can also cause feedback to increase, so it’s possible that a fault has developed inside the device itself. If so, hearing aid repairs can be carried out to minimize your discomfort when using your hearing aids.
Your hearing aid gets wet
Keeping your hearing aids dry is critical but sometimes accidents do happen. If you forget to take your hearing aids out before getting in the shower or going swimming, it’s important to contact your audiologist.
Even if the device appears to be working normally, being submerged in water is likely to cause damage of some kind. By contacting your audiologist for hearing aid repairs now, you may be able to limit the damage done to the device and avoid more major repairs being needed.
Your hearing aid is damaged
If cracks or splits appear on any part of your hearing aid, your audiologist will want to look. This can occur if you drop your hearing aids but, they may arise from general wear and tear if you’re been using your hearing aids for some time.
Often, your audiologist will be able to carry out hearing aid repairs simply by replacing the damaged part of the device.
Your hearing aids aren’t working well
You may not have noticed any damage or be able to pinpoint exactly when the problem, but this shouldn’t stop you from making an appointment with your audiologist. If your hearing aids don’t seem to be functioning as well as they used to, your audiologist will need to assess the device to determine if hearing aid repairs are required.
Repairing hearing devices
Hearing aid repairs can often be carried out quickly by an experienced audiologist. You may even find that your hearing devices can be repaired while you wait. Of course, more extensive repairs can take longer, so it’s important to act quickly. With the right assistance from your audiologist, you can benefit from swift hearing aid repairs and fully functional hearing devices.
