Tinnitus Treatments and Remedies

There is no cure for tinnitus. If your tinnitus is caused by issues related to hearing loss or damage to your ears and hearing, it may be permanent. In this case there is no way to cure or completely get rid of the sounds you hear. 

However, if your tinnitus is caused by another underlying health issue, it may go away completely if that issue is treated. This will only be true if the underlying issue itself can be cured. If it becomes a chronic issue, or if it causes permanent damage to your hearing, then the tinnitus may also be permanent. 

If you have permanent tinnitus, there are treatment options that are meant to manage the condition and reduce the symptoms. That way you won’t hear the noise as loudly or as frequently as you would otherwise. 

Whether you have temporary or permanent tinnitus, there are four ways you can improve your symptoms: medical treatments, counselling services, special products, and lifestyle changes.

The first way to manage tinnitus is seeking medical treatment. This is mostly for people whose tinnitus is caused by an underlying issue with their health.

You can learn more about earwax removal here.

In some cases, your tinnitus may be caused by a medication you already take for an unrelated health issue. You may be able to switch medications to something else that still helps you, but doesn’t cause tinnitus symptoms.

Whether your tinnitus is permanent or temporary, you can get special counselling services to help. These services do not directly address the physical issues that may be causing the tinnitus. Instead, they help you deal with the mental side of tinnitus so you do not feel as stressed, anxious, depressed, or fatigued by it.

TRT is a specialized form of therapy that blends hearing health and psychological education and training. Not every doctor, therapist or hearing health care specialist is qualified to provide it as a service. 

There are special support groups you can join meant for people who have tinnitus. It can help provide you comfort that you are not alone, and that many others go through what you are experiencing. They can share their own tips, tricks and coping mechanisms.

You can also use specialized counselling to help treat more serious mental health issues you deal with. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) does not treat tinnitus itself, but it does help with your mental reaction to it. It can help improve your general mental health so you do not feel as stressed or anxious as a result of your tinnitus.

The third way to manage your tinnitus symptoms is to use special devices. These are specially made to help people with tinnitus in small but useful ways. They either help mask and diminish the sound you hear, or provide counseling services digitally. 

1. They help make you less aware of the tinnitus sounds by enhancing external noise you couldn’t hear due to your hearing loss
2. They improve your ability to communicate by enhancing the sounds of speech over the sounds of tinnitus symptoms

One of the best ways to manage tinnitus symptoms is to “mask” the sounds with real noise, so your mind focuses on it instead. The issue for people with hearing loss is they can no longer hear other sounds that well, so the tinnitus symptoms are more prominent. With hearing aids, the external sound you can hear more clearly is often enough for you to easily focus on it instead of the tinnitus. 

• Sound masking apps that just produce white noise for you if you are without regular masking devices
• Therapy or counselling apps that use pre-set guided sessions you can follow, similar to what you would do in a formal appointment
• Meditation apps that help you relieve stress, anxiety and depression and take your focus off of your tinnitus symptoms

You can get specific tinnitus white noise apps, but any app that produces constant, general background noise can also work. 

The meditation apps are also often generic, and you can get special CBT or mindfulness apps as well. For tinnitus therapy apps, they are more specialized and often provided by the same companies that make the hearing aids. They are meant to function specifically with the brand of hearing aid you use, such as Widex Zen for their hearing aid models.

Here’s a good way to think of masking devices and how it affects tinnitus. Imagine you are sitting in a completely dark room. Imagine that you see a single lamp coming from the corner, and that is your tinnitus. It’s not very bright, but absent any other light it’s all you can focus on. Masking devices act as ceiling lights that turn the whole room bright. Now your focus is not drawn to any particular thing, and the lamp is far less intrusive.