Can You Treat Tinnitus?

The answer to whether you can treat tinnitus depends on your definition of “treat.” If your definition of treating a condition means curing it outright, then no, tinnitus cannot be treated. However, if you adopt a broader definition where “treat” means “to mitigate symptoms and manage the condition,” then yes, you certainly can treat tinnitus.

Treating tinnitus is by no means an easy task. Researchers still aren’t entirely clear on what causes the condition. However, many believe that it is the response of the auditory cortex to insufficient sound stimulation. Hearing loss can reduce the quantity of sound information reaching the brain’s auditory system, causing it to generate its own sounds seemingly out of the aether.

Tinnitus can be a distressing condition that harms a person’s quality of life. Severe tinnitus (that which affects a person for more than 50 percent of their waking hours) can lead to a loss of performance at work, insomnia, depression, and feelings of irritation. Even mild tinnitus can be a distraction, decreasing a person’s quality of life.

How do medical professionals manage and treat tinnitus?

Hearing aids are one of the most common treatments for tinnitus. Even without a hearing loss present, these devices can be used to mask sounds and provide relief. If your tinnitus is accompanied by hearing loss, hearing aids can address both problems with programming and features tailored to your specific needs.

Tinnitus can also be treated with an array of cognitive and behavioral techniques. Many approaches to treating tinnitus do not involve in trying to get rid of the noise itself but rather retraining the mind to think of the sound differently. Tinnitus retraining therapy, for instance, attempts to change the way patients feel about their tinnitus so that it is less distressing and they can block out the sounds on their own.

Some advanced treatments do try to tackle tinnitus directly using special kinds of sound therapy that try to block out the endogenous noise creation of the auditory system. However, as with the psychological techniques, these cannot eliminate the condition, only mask it.

Only tinnitus caused by temporary physical conditions can be cured, such as a buildup of earwax, an ear infection or a tumor. Tinnitus caused by ototoxic medications can often be relieved as well, by switching to a different treatment.

If you think you might have tinnitus, then don’t suffer in silence. Trained and certified audiologists can evaluate your hearing, diagnose tinnitus and offer treatment. Tinnitus can be managed and, in some cases, resolved, with the right approach.