If you experience any level of tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, you’ll know how debilitating it can be. Looking for tinnitus treatment or tinnitus relief can be tough, as there is currently no cure for this condition. However, there are ways you can reduce your symptoms.
Here are the best tinnitus treatment options and tinnitus relief for 2019.
Stress management
Tinnitus can get worse as stress and anxiety get worse. Unfortunately, this can be a tough cycle to break out of. You become stressed because of your tinnitus, which means your tinnitus can become more noticable. Then you get even more stressed, your tinnitus can sound even louder and the cycle continues.
By properly managing your stress and anxiety, you can successfully reduce your tinnitus symptoms. This may be something simple as attending de-stressing yoga each week or practicing relaxation techniques, or something more substantial like therapy with a professional. It really depends on how severe your stress and anxiety are, and what will help you most.
Tinnitus retraining therapy
Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) is a form of therapy that works to manage tinnitus by using two main aspects: counselling and sound therapy.
Working with a professional, you can be fitted for an electronic device that you’ll wear behind the ear. This will create general noise that will help your brain ignore the sound of tinnitus you normally hear. With time, it’s hoped that the individual will notice their tinnitus less and less. These can also be incorporated into special hearing aids, which you can read about more down below.
At the same time, the person with tinnitus will meet with a professional to complete psychological therapy. This will cover topics such as stress management, reducing anxiety and relaxation exercises. So this tinnitus treatment utilizes both physical and emotional therapy to reduce tinnitus sounds and severity.
Avoid silence
Complete silence is a nightmare for people with tinnitus. It can make your symptoms sound even louder and more noticable. By avoiding complete silence, or extremely quiet environments, you can ignore your tinnitus much easier. Masking devices, sound generations, white noise, brown noise, external sounds likes or quiet music can make a world of a difference.
We have a whole guide on the best tricks for using brown noise against tinnitus.
Avoiding silence can also be called “sound therapy” which could mean a variety of different things. Any situation where you use other noises to distract you from tinnitus is usually referred to as sound therapy. This could be using white noise, sound generations, music, or even opening a window to hear external sounds.
It’s important to remember that all external sounds should be listened to at a low volume to help retrain your brain to ignore your tinnitus. If the sounds are too loud and they’re fully covering your tinnitus, the tinnitus sounds could actually be even louder once the external sound is stopped. Keep the external noises low, and your brain will work to block out the tinnitus sounds naturally.
Hearing aids for tinnitus treatment
Many people don’t realize that tinnitus often accompanies hearing loss to some extent. With new technology, you can actually get tinnitus-focused hearing aids which have worked for many tinnitus sufferers.
These special hearing aids work in two ways. One, they help the individual hear properly by raising the volume of external noise. Two, customised hearing aids can actually reduce the frequency of the individual’s tinnitus. This is done by a professional but works incredibly. Your hearing care professional will work with your to discover your tinnitus frequency, whether it’s high pitched, low pitched, etc. They can then program the hearing aid to omit that sound from being amplified.
Use earplugs for loud noises
Exposure to loud noise can cause hearing loss, which can accompany tinnitus as well. It’s vital to protect your hearing because once it’s damaged, it cannot be repaired. Even if you already experience some level of hearing loss or tinnitus, you should still wear earplugs to limit your exposure to loud noises.
It’s important not to wear earplugs in day-to-day life, as it can make your tinnitus sound louder (by forcing you into a quiet environment). However, it’s extremely important to wear them in loud noise environments, such as a live concert, around fireworks or near firearms.
Keep a healthy lifestyle
The healthier you can keep your body, the better it will be for you and your tinnitus. This can include healthy changes like:
- Avoid or limit caffeine and alcohol
- Keep a routine sleep schedule
- Exercise regularly
- Drink lots of water
- Eat a healthy diet
Staying fit and healthy won’t cure your tinnitus – unfortunately, nothing will fully cure tinnitus. However, staying healthy and active will not only improve your quality of life, but it can help reduce tinnitus symptoms and allow you to focus on what’s really important.
Visit your doctor
Your tinnitus symptoms may actually be the result of an underlying health issue. Once you fix the health problem, you tinnitus can actually stop completely. These types of issues could be related to issue with your ear canal, impacted ear wax, or potentially misalignments with your jaw and/or neck.
If your doctor or hearing professional can see that your tinnitus is a result of something else, they should be able to provide you with a treatment plan to fix or reduce that issue.
Cognitive behavioural therapy
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an extremely common method to treat conditions such as depression, stress and anxiety. The idea is that you can retrain the way you think about issues, and thus change your resulting behaviour. CBT for someone with a fear of public speaking could help them think about this act in a new light, show that it’s not dangerous or scary and eventually they will be comfortable enough to complete the task.
Behavioural therapies can also be used for those with tinnitus. Learning more about tinnitus and what you can do it help reduce your anxiety around the condition can actually make it a lot better. Suddenly these unknown incurable condition is less frightening and can become much less noticeable when the fear surrounding tinnitus is removed.
CBT can also reduce anxiety, depression and stress which in turn can help your tinnitus sounds decrease.
Attending support groups
Tinnitus can be a very isolating condition, which can increase stress and anxiety about your symptoms (which can make them even worse). By attending a support group for those with tinnitus, you’ll learn that so many people deal with this condition, while still having positive and healthy lives. The more you can learn, support and discuss tinnitus with those who really understand, could actually make your symptoms much better.
Eventually this condition will be much less of a focus in your life. You can spend your time doing what you really love without ringing in the ears taking control.
Less effective tinnitus treatments
While these treatment options don’t have enough science linking them to real tinnitus relief, some people swear by these treatments:
- Essential oils – While these can greatly reduce your stress (and we know stress can make tinnitus worse) there isn’t enough evidence that essential oils reduce tinnitus directly. However, enjoying essential oils can be wonderful for relaxation and stress relief, inadvertently reducing tinnitus.
- Garlic and garlic oil – Some people swear by using garlic oil to reduce tinnitus. However, there isn’t a clear link that garlic will do anything against tinnitus. Garlic oil could provide some pain relief for ear aches. It’s not recommended to put cloves of garlic into your ears as some websites claim.
- Acupuncture or chiropractor – Acupuncture can definitely reduce stress, which can also reduce tinnitus severity. If you find that this activity is calming and relaxing, it could certainly be an option. Although acupuncture doesn’t directly reduce tinnitus. Visiting a chiropractor could help reduce your tinnitus if it’s as as result of misaligned bones (which could happen). However, this won’t help everyone.
- Supplements claiming to cure tinnitus – Be careful! There are numerous ineffective supplements on the market, claiming to cure this incurable condition. Products like Tinnitus 911, Quiet Mind Plus and Tinnitus Silence Complete have shown aspects of being fake. Make sure to do your research before trying any tinnitus supplement.
Tinnitus treatment for 2019
At the end of the day, there is no cure for tinnitus but many ways in which you can positively manage your symptoms. By following a variety of these tinnitus relief options, you can begin to live a life no longer dominated by tinnitus.
Have a favourite tinnitus treatment not mentioned here? Please let us know!
