Tinnitus has been around for a long time. But perhaps it’s new to you, like a noisy used car you can’t return. A relentless buzzing or ringing is commonly how tinnitus is experienced but not always. Often, the sound is really overwhelming. Symptoms vary substantially, but this is the point: if tinnitus is troubling you, you might be looking for some new ways to deal with your symptoms.
In that, you’re lucky because while tinnitus doesn’t yet have a universal cure, there are a few novel therapies that can help you manage symptoms. Your tongue is even involved in certain of those therapies.
The Newest Way to Handle Tinnitus
One of the most recent treatment options for tinnitus seems a bit strange at first but does appear to show some promise. Both the ear and the tongue are stimulated with this device designed at the Trinity School of Medicine in Dublin. The technical term is bi-modal neuromodulation.
The results were fairly impressive with this device according to the first tests. 12 weeks was about how long most people were treated. Over those 12 months, those same people noted a dramatic decrease in tinnitus symptoms. But until the testing phase is finished it won’t be widely available.
How Can I Find Relief From my Tinnitus Now?
Regrettably, it will most likely be quite some time before novel solutions like this are broadly accessible. So perhaps you’re wondering what you can do now to help control your tinnitus.
Luckily, there are some newer tinnitus therapy devices on the market now. And one of the best new methods of managing tinnitus is something you’ve likely already heard of: your hearing aid.
It works like this:
Your hearing aid can provide you with something else to listen to. When you begin losing your hearing, the sounds of the outside world diminish and that can make the internal sounds of tinnitus get louder. A hearing aid can raise the volume on the rest of the audio spectrum. By increasing the volume of external sounds, your tinnitus sounds will often disappear into the background.
Your hearing aid can mask the sound. A masking device might be the answer if your hearing loss is minor. A hearing aid has a comparable appearance to a masking device. And masking technology can be integrated into modern hearing aids. This technology will produce sounds specially designed to mask your tinnitus symptoms. At times this will be a tone, in other cases, it may be some white noise. Whatever is going to best hide the ringing in your ears.
Of course, this is just a starting point. We can demonstrate devices that work best with tinnitus. Contact us.