Seeking Professional Help for Tinnitus

While approximately 50 million people in the US experience tinnitus, only around 10 million seek help from a hearing health professional. While there are many potential reasons for this, seeking professional help can be instrumental in reducing its impact on your life.

Why is Seeking Professional Help for Tinnitus Important?

Seeking professional help for tinnitus is important, as it can help to lessen the role it plays in your day-to-day life. For example, the development of tinnitus is often linked to emotional difficulties, stress and social withdrawal, namely due to the impact it has on your ability to communicate with others. Without seeking professional help to combat this, affected individuals may become withdrawn from social situations.

Beyond this, seeking professional help can also ensure that you gain access to different treatments, which can reduce the severity of your tinnitus. For example, a hearing health professional will be able to give you a prescription for hearing aids with masking features. Masking features could include directional microphones or white noise generation, which can help to either amplify external noises or block out internal ones.

Other potential treatment methods include the use of white noise machines in your day-to-day life, which can work in the same way as hearing aids with masking feature’s function. Alternatively, you may benefit from trying out tinnitus retraining therapy, which uses the technologies a combination of therapy and white noise, to train your brain to ignore the internal noises caused by tinnitus, drawing your attention to external sounds instead.

What are the Benefits of Seeking Professional Help for Tinnitus?

With the help of a hearing health professional, you can understand the causes of your tinnitus and the treatment options that are available recommended by your hearing health professional. There are many benefits associated with seeking professional help for tinnitus, including:

• Access to treatment or support that can help to mask or reduce the symptoms of tinnitus.
• Improved peace of mind and a better understanding of your auditory health.
• Improved understanding of the potential triggers of tinnitus and steps you can take to prevent it.
• Access to support systems, such as the guidance of a hearing health professional when necessary.
• Improved communication and social skills, reducing social isolation.

How to Seek Professional Help for Tinnitus

If you have noticed any of the signs of tinnitus, such as a ringing or buzzing noise, difficulties with social interaction and sleep or even feelings of dizziness, it is important that you seek the help of a hearing health professional. Early detection of tinnitus or other hearing issues can help improve treatment outcomes moving forward.

If you want to learn more about tinnitus schedule an appointment with your hearing health professional. They will be able to conduct a series of hearing tests and assessments and provide you with a formal diagnosis. Following this, they can also suggest potential treatment methods that you may benefit from, such as the regular use of hearing aids, noise machines or even simply lifestyle changes.