Team Coverage: Tinnitus

Silencing a Sound That Causes Stress and Anxiety

Ringing in your ears can be more than a temporary nuisance. For some, it’s a permanent affliction that can really affect their overall health. It’s called tinnitus and it affects about 50 million Americans.

“Tinnitus sufferers can experience tremendous stress and anxiety as a result of their tinnitus, which can lead to missed days at work or school or more visits to the doctor’s office,” explains Millennium Physician Group Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist Matthew Connor, M.D.

While tinnitus is often associated with hearing loss, there are in fact about 200 different health disorders that can cause the condition.

“Tinnitus can sometimes be a physical cause from an ear disorder,” says Dr, Connor. “However, it can also sometimes be a central cause, where there is injury to the pathway from the inner ear to the brain.”

Tinnitus often can be managed and Dr. Connor says one successful approach is to use new sounds to essentially drown out the unwanted ones. Sounds like white noise, or wind chimes.

“Oftentimes, we can treat it with sound masking therapy, where we can have background sounds around the patient when they’re experiencing their tinnitus so that they don’t notice it and the brain is able to use that background sound and tune out the tinnitus.”

Patients experiencing tinnitus should see their physician or a hearing health professional for a full exam to accurately diagnose the underlying cause.

“Tinnitus is totally treatable and there’s a lot of great ways we can help the patient once we get to see them.”