Doctor-Backed Tinnitus Treatment Options To Help Stop the Ringing in Your Ears
From sound therapy to hearing aids, discover what actually brings relief
Many people have experienced an annoying “ringing in the ears” sound on occasion. It may only last a few seconds or a minute, and typically it goes away pretty fast. But for some of us, that piercing noise doesn’t let up and becomes constant, affecting our quality of life. When this happens, it’s called tinnitus—and there are treatment options that can help.
What is tinnitus?
“Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of sound, and the primary symptom is hearing something other people aren’t able to hear,” says Hamid Djalilian, MD, an otolaryngologist, tinnitus specialist, chief medical advisor of NeuroMed Tinnitus Clinic and a professor of otolaryngology at the UC Irvine School of Medicine.
According to the American Tinnitus Association (ATA), tinnitus is an audiological and neurological condition experienced by more than 50 million U.S. adults. The condition can be acute, temporary or chronic. It can occur in one or both ears, or seemingly inside the head. Besides hearing a ringing, buzzing or whooshing sounds, tinnitus symptoms may also include hearing clicking or hissing sounds, says Dr. Djalilian. “In tinnitus patients, the sound may be noticed at night when things are quieter.”
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Potential tinnitus causes
While the exact cause of tinnitus isn’t fully clear, the condition has been linked to:
- Age-related hearing loss
- Exposure to loud noises
- Side effects of certain medications
- Clogged earwax
- An ear infection
- Severe head injury
Tinnitus tends to show up more as we age because we have more hearing loss, says Dr. Djalilian. “In women, tinnitus occurs more around menopause because hormonal changes can lead to an increase in brain sensitivity, which is a form of atypical migraine—a migraine without the headache,” he explains. “This can lead to increased attention to the tinnitus, and thus a greater perception of the sound.”
How tinnitus is diagnosed
If you suspect you have tinnitus, schedule a visit with an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat specialist). They will perform a physical exam and go over your medical history to find out if there’s an underlying issue first.
“For example, if you have earwax completely blocking your ear canal, that will cause a drop in the hearing and thus cause ringing at the brain level,” Dr. Djalilian explains. “Removal of the wax will then cure the tinnitus as it restores the hearing.”
However, Dr. Djalilian adds, “if the tinnitus occurs as a result of inner ear hearing cell loss, it’s rare that it can be cured in that we can’t make it completely disappear unless we see it in the early stages when the tinnitus is intermittent or less than three months from onset.”
If there isn’t an underlying reason for the ringing in your ears, your doctor will most likely have you see an audiologist, who will conduct a tinnitus matching test. During this test, the audiologist may play various sounds and ask the patient to match it up against the sound they hear internally, says Dr. Djalilian. Once you’ve been diagnosed with tinnitus, you can work with your doctor to explore some of the treatment options below.
Tinnitus treatment options to stop the ringing in your ears
Dr. Djalilian explains that tinnitus treatments focus on managing and easing symptoms. Some techniques that can help include:
Sound therapy
This involves using external sounds to help mask or distract the inner sounds in your head. These outside sounds can come in the form of listening to white noise (such as the whirring of a fan or the hum of an air conditioner) or playing ambient music. “This helps cover up or mask the ringing sound so the brain pays less attention to the ringing sound,” says Dr. Djalilian. “It allows the brain to calm down and not focus on the ringing.”
This treatment option may also be paired with counseling in what’s known as tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT), which involves helping your brain learn to tune out the ringing and any reaction to it.
Craniosacral therapy
This tinnitus treatment is a gentle, hands-on massage of the head, neck and back to help relieve muscle tightness in those areas and calm your nervous system, reducing tension. That’s important, since stress can trigger and exacerbate the ringing in your ears. According to a study in Frontiers of Aging Neuroscience, emotional stress worsens existing tinnitus and is seen as an important indicator of tinnitus severity. (Discover more stress-busting techniques.)
Wearing a hearing aid
Using hearing aids in people with noticeable hearing loss has also been shown to bring some tinnitus relief, since hearing loss and tinnitus often go hand-in-hand. With a hearing aid, you’re amplifying external sounds, and this can assist in drowning out those annoying internal sounds.
If you want to try going the hearing aid route, see an audiologist. They can evaluate and test you so they can determine the best hearing aid option for you. Some hearing aids even come programmed with sound therapy featuring static noises that might help improve your tinnitus treatment.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
CBT is a goal-oriented, structured kind of talk therapy that focuses on changing unhealthy thoughts and behaviors, and it’s a treatment that has been shown to help people with tinnitus. According to the American Academy of Audiology, CBT can help you develop coping techniques and find solutions to better manage the ringing in your years.
And there’s evidence it works. One study in The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine found tinnitus sufferers who had eight weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy significantly reduced their tinnitus severity, duration, frequency and discomfort compared to the group that didn’t receive CBT. It even improved tinnitus-related sleep problems.
What to do if tinnitus treatments don’t provide enough relief
If you have very bothersome tinnitus and the treatments above haven’t helped stop the ringing in your ears, Dr. Djalilian recommends seeking out a clinic that specializes in tinnitus. “The treatment should involve controlling brain sensitivity that makes tinnitus loud and intrusive by using medication and directed supplements.”
In addition, these specialists can address stress, sleep problems and dietary factors that trigger the loud tinnitus with coaching, cognitive behavioral therapy and sound therapy, he adds.
“The important thing to know is that bothersome tinnitus is treatable medically and we have had great results when we approach it in a comprehensive manner,” says Dr. Djalilian.
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