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Ringing Ears...
It’s NOT just in your mind.
T
innitus is a “phantom” sound that affects quality of life for
millions around the world and is associated with hearing loss
in most cases. This phenomenon affects almost 16 million
people yearly in the United States alone. Patients often say, “The
sound is driving me crazy,” says Dr. Ralana Cima, a psychologist
and researcher in the Netherlands. According to her, most patients
would do almost anything to avoid hearing the sound in their
heads and the feelings and anxiety that result.
There is currently no cure for tinnitus, a potentially lifedisrupting condition that affects 10-20 percent of the population,
mostly those over the age of 65 but also many veterans of the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There has been a sharp increase,
however, in those under the age of 50 suffering from this condition.
Possible causes are head and neck injuries, drugs that damage the
ear nerve, autoimmune and ear disorders, and disorders of the
temporomandibular joint.
For years tinnitus sufferers have been told to “ignore it” or “cover
it with a noise machine or fan,” but masking machines have had
little to no effect in suppressing the disruption of life or sleep.
Until recently, no treatment had been shown to have lasting
effectiveness in controlled clinical trials, despite a host of remedies
variously endorsed by hearing specialists and commercial interests.
Most recently, a number of tech companies have developed
Tinnitus Retraining Devices (TRD) that attempt to teach the
brain to completely ignore the tinnitus as an “unimportant”
sound. To date this has been one of the most effective means of
combating the symptoms. Many hearing-impaired individuals have
noticed significant improvements by treating their hearing loss.
Approximately 78% of tinnitus sufferers who have treated their
hearing loss with hearing aids have noticed a significant decrease
in the amount and loudness of the tinnitus. However, some patients
still state the noise in their head is still a disruption to their lives.
Hearing aid manufacturers have developed the TRD technology
and have built it into some of the more te 6