May 3, 2013

  • Tinnitus is defined as “phantom noise perception” – a real perception of sound that did not originate outside your body.
  • Tinnitus was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as private messages directly from the gods! The ancient Greeks recognized tinnitus, but did not have such a positive attitude toward it. They thought you could “chase it away” with sound.
  • Tinnitus is perceived by at least 50,000,000 Americans alone. One third of citizens over 65 hear persistent buzzing, ringing, humming or other noises. In a completely soundproof room almost everybody will hear tinnitus.
  • To date, no medications or supplements have been found to reduce or eliminate this noise without significant side effects, including dependency. Drugs are not recommended and not necessary. Our tinnitus therapy has no side effects.
  • Tinnitus very RARELY signals a pathological medical condition.
  • Tinnitus is a symptom and not a disease, and it is typically the result of increased nerve activity triggered by damage along the pathways of hearing, often very minor damage.
  • Ear ringing is only a problem to the extent that it bothers you.
  • Bothersome tinnitus is not a problem of noise perception, but of hypermonitoring the noise.
  • Tinnitus does not cause hearing loss, nor does it mask hearing, although it may compete for your attention.
  • A majority of tinnitus patients have measurable hearing loss, although not all require hearing aids.
  • Habituation, the process that allows us to ignore unpleasant odors or the feeling of our clothes on our skin over time, has been found to be VERY successful with patients if basic protocols of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) are followed. Ear-worn sound generating devices, including the Serenade® device by SoundCure™, have been found to significantly increase the habituation process in many patients.
  • Patients often compare their tinnitus to crickets or “white noise”, yet people rarely tend to be bothered by real crickets or white noise. It’s the significance attached to the sound, and not the sound itself, that is an annoyance. It is a learned behavior we can “unlearn”!