Tinnitus is nothing new. But it might be the first time you have had to deal with it. A constant ringing or buzzing is usually how tinnitus manifests but not always. The sound can be, at times, very loud. Symptoms fluctuate significantly, but this is the point: if tinnitus is troubling you, you might be looking for some new ways to deal with your symptoms.
Fortunately, new therapies and treatment options are being developed that aren’t cures for tinnitus but can help you deal with it. Your tongue is even involved in some of those therapies.
The Most Recent Way to Handle Tinnitus
Perhaps the most novel tinnitus therapy that we’ve seen appears to offer quite a bit of promise, even if it seems a little strange initially. Both the tongue and the ear are stimulated with this device developed at the Trinity School of Medicine in Dublin. Bi-modal neurostimulation is the technical term for this approach.
The results were rather striking with this device based on the first tests. Most individuals received treatments for twelve weeks or so. Within those 12 months, those same people noted a dramatic reduction in tinnitus symptoms. But this type of therapy is still in the testing phase and not widely available yet.
How Can I Get Relief From my Tinnitus Now?
Of course, it takes a while for technology to go from research and development to patient accessibility. So how can you manage your tinnitus now?
There are, luckily, some tinnitus therapy technology that has recently been released. And one of the best new ways to manage tinnitus is something you’ve probably already heard of: your hearing aid.
Here’s how it works:
Your hearing aid can provide you with something else to listen to. When you start losing your hearing, external get quieter and that can make the internal sounds of tinnitus become louder. The volume of the exterior world is boosted by hearing aids. By increasing the volume of external sounds, your tinnitus sounds will often vanish into the background.
There is a sound masking device similar to a modern hearing aid. A masking device might be the way to go if your hearing loss is minor. A hearing aid has a similar appearance to a masking device. And masking technology can be integrated into modern hearing aids. Your tinnitus symptoms can be obscured by sounds emitted by this type of technology. Sometimes this will be a tone, in other situations, it may be some white noise. Whatever will best hide the humming in your ears.
This is, of course, just the beginning. We can show you devices that work best with tinnitus. Give us a call.