Tinnitus might not have a cure, but that doesn’t mean it’s not treatable. This is one of the many misconceptions about tinnitus that can get in the way of treatment. When you have tinnitus, you may find yourself seeking out information and come across unfiltered conversations about tinnitus. These conversations may increase your worry and potentially cause confusion and extra stress.
Over 30 million Americans experience tinnitus, or a ringing sensation in their ears.
Most people with tinnitus eventually learn to manage the phantom sounds–that’s if they don’t disappear on their own. In some cases, the phantom sounds can have negative effects on mental and emotional health and eventually affect quality of life.
A large part of managing tinnitus symptoms is creating and maintaining the right psychological atmosphere. Experts believe that this, combined with certain lifestyle changes, counseling, and other tinnitus techniques can help stimulate habituation. Here, the brain learns to ignore the tinnitus sounds, and in time, this should reduce its symptoms.
"Treble Health helped me turn down the sound of my tinnitus. Now I can breathe, and get on with my life!"
"Treble Health helped me turn down the sound of my tinnitus. Now I can breathe, and get on with my life!"
– Elisa
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Habituation can happen at any time, and is possible, even for chronic cases of tinnitus. Since most cases of tinnitus are only audible to the patient (known as subjective tinnitus), patients must play an active role in communicating their symptoms, and commit to a tinnitus treatment plan.
Create A Sense Of Progress
With tinnitus, it’s easy to feel stuck, but managing these symptoms won’t happen overnight. Treating tinnitus is more like a marathon, and it will take some time to find the right techniques to manage its symptoms. The consensus is that patients should expect to incorporate these long-term tinnitus strategies into their lives for one to two years.
Celebrating the wins is important, even the small ones. It might not mean the tinnitus sounds went away, but perhaps you were able to go for a walk with your dog and you didn’t notice the tinnitus. Or, maybe you could finally focus and complete a task without it getting in your way.
There’s no official timeline for when tinnitus symptoms will improve. Overcoming tinnitus isn’t a straight path either, and its symptoms can fluctuate during this journey. Many patients get caught up in their day-to-day struggles without acknowledging the things they accomplished. Give yourself credit for all the hard work you put into being consistent with your tinnitus treatment plan.
Journals are a useful tool for creating physical timelines of these wins, whether that’s over the course of a week, month, or however long the tinnitus lasts. This way, it’s easy to reflect on all the things that still happened despite the tinnitus from a bird’s eye view. Keeping track of your progress this way can also reveal which treatment techniques had the biggest impact. This will be useful when it’s time to reassess the long-term treatment plan.
Find A Sense Of Relief
For most people, their idea of relief comes in the form of a pill, medicine, or surgery. Usually, relief is described as whatever improves the discomfort or makes the abnormality stop. With tinnitus, it’s a bit different. As mentioned before, there’s no official cure, but there are several things you can do to find relief, from sound therapy to counseling.
Relief from tinnitus can come in different forms. It can be emotional, where the anxiety from tinnitus symptoms isn’t as intense after starting Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It can also be physical, where you don’t get a headache, have neck stiffness to deal with after using a particular tinnitus device, or getting a massage. Having a sense of relief can take the edge off the overall effects of tinnitus. It’s up to you to recognize these sources of relief.
The ability to pinpoint these sources of relief, and managing the effects of tinnitus go hand-in-hand. Once you know what works, you can quickly draw on them whenever the issues arise. These strategies will then become habits that help the brain re-register the tinnitus sounds as a non-threat.
Maintain A Sense Of Control
Tinnitus can be overwhelming for many patients. It’s easy to get trapped, feeling like you have no control over its symptoms or the way they affect your everyday life. This is even harder without the right support and guidance from a tinnitus specialist.
Stop giving away your power to tinnitus. That might sound a lot easier said than done, but it’s much more manageable when you break it down into smaller steps and actions. This makes tinnitus less intimidating.
Start by changing the way you talk about your tinnitus. Neutralizing the language we use when thinking and talking about tinnitus can help facilitate habituation. This will take a lot of practice, but by doing this, it will seem less intimidating. Instead of worrying about your next spike, or what it will mess up, focus on the task ahead. You are in control.
If possible, bring your friends and family in on the act. Ask them to help you redirect focus whenever you’re being negative about your tinnitus. The point is to take the attention off the tinnitus, or at least, its negative side effects by reframing how you think and talk about it.
Seek A Sense Of Safety
Feelings of fear and anxiety are expected with tinnitus. It is important to recognize these feelings and work on lessening our fear responses. This becomes important if there is any fear around louder sounds. Some patients believe louder environments such as restaurants may trigger their tinnitus and can experience panic or anxiety ahead of time. Some even actively avoid social interaction and other similar situations that involve sound, but being in a quiet place can actually increase our awareness of tinnitus. Because without a lack of acoustic or environmental stimulation the brain tends to focus on the tinnitus, leading to increased feelings of negativity towards the tinnitus.
At Treble Health, we encourage making informed decisions, rather than fear-based decisions about the situations we find ourselves in. This can provide a greater sense of control over tinnitus symptoms, and provide the peace of mind or security needed to facilitate habituation.
So, if you want to visit the new restaurant in town, your tinnitus shouldn’t stop you. Instead of going at 8 pm on a busy Saturday night, consider a non-peak day, during non-peak hours. This way, you can be sure there won’t be too much noise, and if there is, you can bring earplugs, or other hearing technology to help regulate sound.
Some tinnitus patients take it up a notch using noise level meters. These help detect safe noise levels before committing to a night out. They can even tell you when it’s time to readjust your device settings or leave if your surroundings get too noisy. There’s less fear when you’re prepared.
Achieve A Sense Of Strategy/Success
Once you’re strategic about sound exposure, and other events that end up being positive experiences, you’re already on your way to filtering out the phantom sound. The more our brain has these positive experiences, the more it learns that tinnitus sounds aren’t important, or threatening. This forms the basis of neuroplasticity.
Think of all the things you do to manage your tinnitus as setting yourself up for success. The belief that you can push through tinnitus, or bear it with grit teeth is false. Instead you can work small, focus on small wins and work your way up.
Having a tinnitus strategy goes hand-in-hand with having a sense of control, and safety. Since habituation can take anywhere from a few days to several months, consistency will play a major role in the success of these strategies.
Tim’s Story: Habitation Strategies In Action
Tim is in his late 50s and has had tinnitus for four and a half years. He tried sound therapy devices but stopped wearing them after a while. He didn’t think they were helpful and would speak negatively about his tinnitus, even when he had improved. Eventually, he reached out to the Treble Health team for help.
Sound therapy can be an effective treatment for tinnitus when used properly, and tailored to one’s particular tinnitus. Usually, this involves treatment options, such as counseling and professional guidance.
With guidance from our trusted audiologists, he started documenting his wins, even small ones that weren’t specific to tinnitus. Tim was able to check his progress from a bird’s eye view, making note of fluctuations, average good days, and the things he was still able to do. The sound therapy and other tinnitus techniques recommended by the team helped him find a sense of relief. Eventually, he was able to change the way he talked about his tinnitus.
Tim was able to regain control of his life. He felt secure thanks to his understanding of tinnitus and its triggers, so there was no need to avoid everyday life. He was able to enjoy peaceful nature walks at the trail near his house, and nights out with friends again.
At the start of his treatment, Tim scored 55 out of 100 on the Tinnitus Functional Index(TFI). This meant his tinnitus was having a significant impact on his day-to-day life. At the end of his treatment, his TFI score decreased to 6 out of 100. Like Tim, other tinnitus patients can achieve this sense of strategy/success by staying consistent with their recommended habituation strategies.
Practice Habituation Strategies With The Treble Health Team
You can learn to manage and even completely habituate to your tinnitus. Your journey to habituation starts with a 20-minute complimentary Zoom session with seasoned tinnitus experts. Our team of audiologists at Treble Health has worked with thousands of patients like you and can implement a treatment plan based on your experience.
Habituation can take a few days, a few weeks, or even a few months. The reality is, the techniques that work for one tinnitus patient, might not work for you. Experts at Treble Health can help you find the ones that do and will work with you through the entire process.
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