Ringing in your ears? Told to just “live with it”?
Is tinnitus starting to influence your daily activities?
Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of an external sound source, its name stemming from the Latin word “tinnire”, which means “ringing like a bell”. It is generally described in common English as “a ringing in the ears”. It can be perceived on one or both sides of the head, it can be of short duration, or be persistent, and it can be a continuous sound, or a pulsating sound following the rhythm of your heartbeat.
Tinnitus is a widespread phenomenon and experienced by 10-15% of the population. It is not an illness per se, but rather a symptom of something else in the body being affected. Tinnitus is sometimes linked to serious medical conditions such as tumours, vascular problems, Meniére’s Disease or superior semicircular canal dehiscence, but most of the time it is connected to hearing loss, ear conditions or stress. The audiologist and ENT conduct evaluations to find out where the tinnitus is coming from.
Tinnitus becomes a relevant problem when it is negatively perceived by and causes distress to the person experiencing it. Some people may not attach any significance to it, while others may perceive it as annoying, debilitating and threatening. This “bothersome tinnitus” may lead to rippling effects affecting basic daily tasks, such as sleep disturbances, poor concentration, difficulties in performing tasks and a variety of negative emotional reactions. Tinnitus and stress often form a vicious circle where stress makes the tinnitus worse, with the tinnitus in turn causing even more stress.
There is currently no magic pill that can cure tinnitus. Where physical conditions are present, treating that condition often helps to relieve the tinnitus. But tinnitus is a very complex phenomenon involving also the emotional system in your brain, therefore treatment cannot be complete without specialised counselling.
Hannelie Kroon has been studying tinnitus management since 2013. She runs a multidisciplinary tinnitus team to offer patients various services as each individual case dictates. She has spent numerous hours in consultation with the audiologists, ENT specialists, psychiatrists and psychologists in her team to ensure that each member knows their role in the team. The team therefore combines their knowledge about the ear, brain, tinnitus, the limbic (emotional) system and psychology to offer an expert team approach in the management of tinnitus. The audiologist starts the patient’s journey off with thorough audiological testing and (where necessary) liaison with an ENT specialist to exclude medical conditions. She provides a combination of amplification and sound therapy (where indicated) and in-depth, intensive Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) counselling, educating the patient on the mechanisms of tinnitus and how the brain responds to it. She is internationally trained to screen for emotional factors that may influence the patient’s tinnitus, and to provide Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to assist the patient in changing his/her thought patterns about tinnitus. Studies show that patients can find significant relief from their tinnitus through this process. When she finds that the patient experiences a deeper level of emotional involvement in the tinnitus, she includes the psychologist in the therapy, who is trained and specialises in dealing with a patient’s emotions and thought patterns more profoundly. Together they draw up an individualised plan for each patient and provide CBT, counselling and support to achieve the patient’s goals. All psychological sessions remain confidential. They also offer off-site support in between and after sessions to keep track of their patients’ progress and experiences.
This evidenced-based team approach has helped countless people to take back their lives where it was once thought that they will be stuck with the tinnitus forever. Tinnitus can be successfully relieved, lessened and managed with the correct support. As Hannelie’s Masters Degree research showed, the combination of TRT and CBT really works - it resulted in incredible improvements in the patient’s tinnitus related distress. The improvements also remained steady over the long term, showing that the approach is rock-solid.
There is no reason to have to “live with tinnitus” – contact us for world class support.