An audiologist is a licensed professional with a master's or doctoral degree in audiology who diagnoses, treats, and manages individuals of any age with hearing loss or balance problems. Audiologists at the Elks Hearing & Balance Center are licensed by the state of Idaho to serve patients of all ages, from birth to adult, by administering essential diagnostic assessments and determining appropriate patient treatment of hearing and balance problems.

A certified vestibular physical therapist is a licensed professional with extensive education and training in the area of Vestibular Rehabilitation. Our therapists are trained and certified by the Advanced Clinical Practice Series with the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA).

A speech language pathologist (SLP) works with children and adults who have communication disorders. They are qualified to evaluate, diagnose and treat speech and language delays. At The Elks Hearing and Balance Center the SLPs work specifically with patients who have speech and language delays related to hearing loss or auditory processing delays.

If you are concerned about your child’s communication skills, a speech and language evaluation may be appropriate. An evaluation assesses all aspects of communication, including speech production, expressive communication, language comprehension, vocabulary development and auditory perception. Parent report, observation and standardized testing are all part of the evaluation process. If a problem is identified, a treatment plan is developed and therapy will be started to help maximize the child’s speech and language potential.

A diagnostic hearing evaluation provides accurate information regarding hearing loss. Hearing tests are performed in a sound-treated booth using calibrated equipment. The comprehensive hearing evaluation may include the following test components:

• Otoscopy: A visual inspection of the ear canal and eardrum;
• Tympanometry: A test that evaluates the flexibility of the eardrum and the articulation of the bones (ossicles) in the middle ear;
• Acoustic Reflexes: A test of neural integrity of the auditory nerve;
• Pure Tone Audiometry: A test that identifies the degree and configuration of a hearing loss across a broad range of pitches (frequencies).
• Word Recognition Testing: A test that determines speech understanding capabilities, assists in the diagnosis of the site of an auditory disorder, and helps in assessing the appropriate need for amplification.
• Speech in Noise Testing: A test performed to assess a person’s ability to understand speech in a complex noise and identifies specific amplification needs.

The hearing test results and the interpretations are explained in detail. All of these procedures assist in assessing the most appropriate audiological treatment and referrals for the patient’s needs.

Audiologists have in-depth training and education in the prevention, identification, assessment and non-medical treatment of hearing and balance disorders. Based upon their education and training, audiologists are the most qualified professionals to perform hearing tests, refer patients for medical treatment and provide hearing rehabilitation services, including the fitting and management of hearing aids.

The anatomy of the ear can be divided into four sections that transfer acoustic (sound) information to the brain. The divisions include:

• The outer ear, which is composed of the pinna (ear) and the ear canal, funnels the acoustic signal into the ear.
• The middle ear, consisting of the eardrum & the ossicles (middle ear bones), transforms the acoustic signal into a vibration that is transmitted and amplified into the inner ear.
• The inner ear has two parts: the hearing center and the balance center. The hearing center is a snail-shaped bony structure called the cochlea, which contains the organ of hearing (the organ of Corti). The mechanical vibrations of the middle ear are transformed into hydraulic (fluid) waves that activate the tiny hair cells. These hair cells send electrical impulses along the auditory nerve.
• The auditory nerve carries the sound in the form of electrical impulses and delivers it to the auditory center of the brain.

Hearing loss often occurs gradually and it can be difficult to notice subtle changes in hearing. As a result, people often wait years before seeking help. Some common symptoms of hearing loss may include frequently asking others to repeat, complaining that people are mumbling, having trouble listening in noisy areas (restaurants or crowds), withdrawal from social settings, feeling embarrassed or annoyed when not understanding what someone says, or others complaining that the volume on the TV or radio is too loud. If you have any concerns about your hearing, please call one of our office to have your hearing tested.

Hearing loss is America's leading disability affecting 28-31 million people of all ages. Of the more than 75 million Americans born between 1945 and 1964, 16 million suffer some degree of hearing loss. Between 25 and 40% of the American population aged 60 and older have a hearing loss. Hearing loss is not something that affects only adults; it has been found that hearing loss is America's number one birth defect at a rate of 1 in every 1000 births resulting in a deaf child and 3-4 out of 1000 births resulting in a child with significant hearing impairment.

Hearing losses are not all the same. The hearing loss and its impact can vary just as one person is different from another. Yet, most hearing losses can be placed into three general catagories.

• Conductive Hearing Loss: Caused by any condition that physically blocks or impedes sound from passing into the ear, such as ear wax or middle ear infections. This can usually be treated medically or surgically and hearing restored partially or completely.
• Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Caused by damage to the inner ear or auditory nerve. This type of hearing loss is the most common type affecting patients. It is permanent and cannot be fixed with medication or surgery. Sensorineural hearing loss will reduce the volume of sound and can cause problems with understanding speech in all situations. The most common and effective treatments are hearing aids and aural rehabilitation.
• Mixed Hearing Loss: Caused when a person has both a permanent hearing loss and a conduction hearing loss. Treatments vary and this patient may be a candidate for hearing aids. Typically, this patient is referred to a physician or an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) doctor prior to treatment by the audiologist.

The causes of hearing loss are varied and impact people in different ways. It may be caused by treatable diseases, such as ear infections, or may have no known cause, such as a sudden onset of hearing loss. Some of the main causes of hearing loss include age, infections, problems at birth, family history of hearing loss (genetics).

Some hearing loss is unpredictable and unpreventable. There may be a genetic predisposition to some forms of hearing loss. However, noise-induced hearing loss is 100% preventable. Custom hearing prevention devices (HPDs) are silicone earmolds molded specifically to fit your ear canals. HPDs can be adapted to your specific hearing needs, whether for music, hunting, work, play or swimming. Each has specific noise reduction ratings (NRR) that vary from six to 29 decibels. It is never too late or too early to begin preserving your hearing.

There are several different types and/or styles of hearing protection devices (HPDs) that serve various needs. The different styles include custom or non-custom earplugs and non-custom earmuffs. Each has specific noise reduction ratings (NRR) that prevent hearing loss in various noise environments. The following is a list of different types of custom HPDs that will protect your ears in different environments:

• Electronic HPDs: These devices house circuitry inside them that limit the amount of sound coming into your ear. Electronic HPDs are great for hunters or anyone exposed to loud, sudden noises.
• Musician Earplugs: Musician earplugs allow sound to be heard naturally, only quieter. Special filters lower the volume of incoming sound evenly across all the different pitches and maintain the understanding of speech and the clarity of sound quality. These are available in both custom and non-custom styles. The non-custom style for musician’s earplugs is often called high fidelity hearing protection.
• Swimmer’s Earplugs: These earplugs are soft silicone earmolds which provide a waterproof seal and are also great for use as hearing protection! Earplugs are a great way to keep moisture and bacteria out of the ear canal while swimming, showering, skiing, or doing other water sports.
• In some cases, ear muffs or foam earplugs are also used to protect against hearing loss.

Identifying a hearing loss is only the first step to understanding your hearing needs. The second step is obtaining information about and choosing an appropriate treatment plan. In a hearing loss consultation appointment, we provide you the information and tools you need to choose the best treatment options for your hearing needs. In many instances, hearing aids are the most appropriate treatment option, in which case we discuss the various technologies and benefits of amplification and can provide demonstrations of hearing aids so you can hear the difference.

As awareness of hearing loss improves, more children with hearing loss are identified and served. It is estimated that over 1.4 million children under the age of 18 have hearing loss in the United States. Additionally, it is estimated that 3 in 1,000 infants are born with serious to profound hearing loss. However, not all of those children are being identified at birth and some children will develop hearing loss after birth. The importance of accurately identifying hearing loss in children and providing appropriate communication options while they are young cannot be overstated. At the Hearing and Balance Centers at the Elks, we have Audiologists who specialize in Pediatric Audiology and testing. Please call for any testing or treatment needs.

There are many national and local resources available that advocate for your child’s success. These groups provide a range of services from information to active support at home and in the schools. The most widely utilized and most comprehensive resources in Idaho are:

• Your Audiologist: he or she is able to provide counseling and support for you and amplification for your child, whether through hearing aids, cochlear implants, or other assistive listening devices.
• Idaho Hands and Voices - a parent-to-parent, non-profit advocating group that provides non-biased communication information, networks you with other parents in your situation, and teach you how to advocate for you child.
• Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind (ISDB) - a group of professionals that ensure your child’s hearing needs are met at school, either their home school or at the state school, and at home by providing counseling and support. They also have limited funding to provide children with appropriate assistive technology.
• Infant / Toddler Program - a state-based program that supports children with hearing loss from birth to 3 years of age. They also assist in coordinating speech and language assessments and treatment.

To obtain additional resources, please contact any of our offices or see the “Resources” page on our website.

Yes, untreated hearing loss can have a significant impact on a child’s ability to succeed in academics. It can interfere with a child’s cognitive (thinking or reasoning) , speech, language and social development on many levels. Academic delays can occur in children with any type or degree of hearing loss including mild, high frequency or unilateral (one ear) hearing losses. Children with fluctuating hearing due to repeat ear infections will be affected as well. Hearing loss in children results in lowered speech understanding, difficulty hearing in background noise and reverberant (echoing) rooms. Children are always in a learning mode. With hearing loss, that child does not "pick up" what happens around him/her because his/her ability to overhear what is being said to another person is very small (within 3 feet of the person speaking). A child with a hearing loss has to be listening and focusing in order to learn, and without appropriate intervention (ie. hearing aids, FM system, interpreter, tutor, note-taking buddy), that child is at a definite disadvantage in the classroom environment. This may result in delays in academic performance, behavioral problems, slowed social development, poor self-esteem and isolation. Fortunately, more children with hearing loss are being identified early and the effects of hearing loss are lessened with appropriate intervention.

Identifying how well a child hears is important in providing optimal strategies for speech development. Since testing children can sometimes be a challenge, we use a broad selection of tests to provide the best accuracy. Hearing evaluations for children are adapted to age and ability and are composed of several different tests specifically designed to assess the most appropriate audiological treatment and referrals for your child’s needs.

The Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test is an objective procedure that assesses the function of the auditory nerve. It is primarily used for estimating hearing levels in children who cannot or will not otherwise respond to traditional hearing testing. The testing usually lasts one to two hours and is performed while the child is sleeping. During the test, small electrode sensors are placed on the child’s forehead and behind each ear and earphones are placed in each ear. The electrode sensors pick up the electrical activity of the nerves stimulated by the sounds (clicks or tone-like) presented into each ear.

No. In order to obtain reliable results the child must lie quietly without movement. For this reason, it is necessary to sedate young children and some infants. The sedation is quite safe and helps to make the child tranquil while the test is performed.

A sedated ABR is safe and is performed in the same manner as a non-sedated ABR with the addition of a mild sedative. The sedative is prescribed by the child’s physician (usually Chloral Hydrate) and is administered by the parent at the appointment. A respiratory therapist is always available during the testing. Patients may be drowsy after the test for one to two hours.

Auditory neuropathy is a hearing disorder where sounds enter the inner ear normally but are not transmitted correctly from the ear to the brain. This hearing disorder can affect people of any age. It can also occur in people with normal hearing or hearing loss, but always results in a poor ability to understand speech clearly. Management and treatment of auditory neuropathy uses an interdisciplinary approach and may include routine audiologic monitoring, hearing aids i(f necessary), assistive listening devices, cochlear implants, or alternative communication methods.

Central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) refers to difficulty processing auditory information at the level of the brain. It is seen in children who have normal or near normal hearing, yet still demonstrate difficulties with understanding speech. Some classic behaviors include asking for repetition or clarification, difficulty following directions, and difficulty telling the difference between similar speech sounds. Behaviors seen in children with CAPD are also seen in children who have other learing disabilites and deciding on a diagnosis may need input from other specialists and/or may require several visits. The dianostic process does not typically begin until the child is at least 8 hears old. However, if you have concerns regarding your child’s auditory behaviors, you could pursue the CAPD Intake Evaluation at any age.

The CAPD Evaluation Process occurs in two stages. The first step is the CAPD Intake Evaluation. At this time, general information is gathered about your child such as: the developmental level at which your child functions, his/her speech and language abilites, and additional diagnosis of attention concerns or other learning disabilities. A hearing evaluation will be performed at the Intake Evaluation to determine if any hearing loss is present and whether a comprehensive CAPD evaluation would be appropriate. The second stage of testing is the CAPD evaluation. This includes tesking your child's responses to different and difficult auditory tasks to identify if there is a problem in process sound, where the problem is and how severe it may be.

Treatment for auditory processing disorders may involve a multidisciplinary approach, and may include the pediatrician, an audiologist, a speech/language pathologist, the child’s educator, and possibly others. After the processing problem is diagnosed and clearly defined, an individual treatment plan will be developed, based on your child’s needs. The long term goal of therapy is to re-train the brain and teach new, more effective listening habits. Guided listening practice, computer-based activities, direct instruction and a home program may all be included in treatment sessions. Practical skills about listening and speech are modeled. Environmental modifications for the classroom and consultation with your child’s teachers may be considered.

A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted electronic device that bypasses a damaged inner ear and directly stimulates the hearing nerve. A cochlear implant is meant for patients who have severe to profound hearing losses and receive little benefit from their hearing aids. In order to start the process of finding out whether you are a candidate for a cochlear implant, you would need to meet with one of our cochlear implant audiologists for testing.

The Baha is a type of implant that is used with patients who cannot wear hearing aids because of the type of hearing loss (ie. complete hearing loss in one ear) or medical problems with their ears (ie. no ear canal). The Baha works by directly stimulating the bone with vibrations that transmit the sound to the inner ear. It does this with a small titanium rod that is surgically place in the skull. Bone grows around the implanted piece making it part of the bone (this is why the Baha is called an osseintegrated implant). The patient has a small connector (called an abutment) that is placed over the titanium rod and the sound processor is snapped into place on the abutment. It is worn behind behind the ear.

The videonystagmographic (VNG) evaluation is used to identify whether a vestibular (inner ear) disorder is causing your dizziness symptoms. The VNG is the most accurate test to rule out vestibular disorders and to decipher between a unilateral (one ear) and bilateral (both ears) vestibular loss. The test responses are recorded using infrared cameras that track the movement of your eyes. The best battery takes 1.5 – 2 hours and is composed of multiple parts.

Dizziness and imbalance symptoms are often difficult to describe to your family and health care providers. Dizziness symptoms can include vertigo (spinning), light headed dizziness, fuzziness or a floating sensation. Imbalance symptoms can include unsteadiness, decreased confidence walking, and fear of falling or history of falls.

The inner ear contains the end organs of both hearing and balance. It is possible to have a problem affecting both your balance and your hearing. However, it is also possible that your balance problems are not related to your hearing problems at all. The most important thing to remember is that if you have any concerns regarding your balance or your hearing please call our office for further information or for an appointment to be evaluated.

The appointment will be with one of our Vestibular Physical Therapists for one hour. During the appointment, the therapist will interview you for medical history, history of symptoms and perform a basic physical therapy evaluation. The therapist will perform more specific balance and vestibular assessments usually including Computerized Dynamic Posturography.

Your physical therapist may work with you to make recommendations for changes in your home or activities to optimize safety and decrease risk for falling. Some examples might include use of an assistive device or removal of throw rugs. Balance training and therapy will also help to reduce fall risk. Our goal is to maximize safety and minimize risk for falling and injury. Practical tips to prevent falls can be found summarized in our Keep Your Balance Flyer

BPPV is an inner ear disorder that is easily treated by our Vestibular Therapists. Symptoms of BPPV consist of brief bouts of spinning dizziness (vertigo) that last less than one minute. The symptoms are commonly triggered by looking up, bending over, lying down and rolling over in bed.

Meniere's Disease is a complex disorder that affects our hearing and balance portions of our inner ear system. Meniere’s Disease usually occurs in episodes or attacks lasting several hours with symptoms of severe vertigo with nausea and vomiting, changes in hearing, aural pressure and a roaring sound in the affected ear. Diagnosis of the disease can be difficult and requires input from an Ear, Nose, Throat Physician, Audiologist, and Physical Therapist. Medical management of the disease is helpful to minimize attacks. Audiologists can monitor changes in hearing over time to help track disease progression. Physical therapy is sometimes helpful after an attack, but not always indicated.

Whiplash injuries and other neck problems can cause dizziness and mild imbalance. We have joint receptors (sensors) in our neck that assess our head's position. When these sensors are damaged, patients describe the symptoms with tems like "fuzzy-headed", "medicine-head" or "lightheadedness". Symptoms are often worse by the end of the day.

A unilateral weakness typically results from a viral infection that affects our inner ear. Usually, only the balance portion of our inner ear is affected, however the hearing portion can also be damaged. The result of a unilateral weakness can be dizziness, which can include vertigo, blurred vision, and balance difficulties. Our audiologists can assist with diagnosing unilateral weakness with Videonystagmography (VNG) testing. Our physical therapists help treat the symptoms and restore normal function.

With digital aids, the sound is manipulated into very small components because the computer chip in the hearing aid turns the sounds into binary digits. IN this way, it can make very slight adjustments. It can also shape the sound much more precisely to fit your hearing loss resulting in better sound quality and management of loud sounds. It can sample background noise and decrease how noticeable the noise is while boosting the speech signal. No hearing aid can eliminate noise. It can look for feedback (whistling) and if it is present, generate a signal to cancel it. It is ruly is very flexible and works really well. Non-digital circuitry is being phased out and there are digital circuits to fit every hearing loss and every budget.

You can expect to hear much better than you are now, but remember that no hearing aid can return your hearing to “normal”. Hearing aids are only the first step in improving hearing. Success in listening with hearing aids is a process that takes time and is a combined effort that involves you, your family, and your audiologist. You can expect that the hearing aids will need periodic adjustments and maintenance, especially if your hearing changes over time. Finally, you can expect that we will always be here to service your hearing aids, answer your questions, and improve your hearing.

Your success in hearing is our highest priority. In addition to hearing aids and assistive devices, our audiologists host aural rehab support groups that focus on strategies and options for improving your success in hearing. There are support groups for parents of children with hearing loss and for adults with hearing loss. In those groups, individuals are empowered with knowledge and skills that improve their ability to succeed. They also enjoy interacting with others who experience the same frustrations or concerns. Those who attend and actively participate in the aural rehab support groups tend to be more successful with amplification and hearing in general than their peers.

When there is hearing loss in both ears, two hearing aids are nearly always prescribed over one hearing aid. Only in specific situations is one hearing aid preferred. So why do you need two hearing aids? Research and experience shows that people benefit more from two hearing aids. Two hearing aids provide enhanced speech understanding in noisy environments and to improved ability to localize sounds (tell where sounds are coming from). Additionally, hearing aids in both ears help prevent or reduce the effect of auditory deprivation.

Auditory deprivation is a decrease in the ability to understand speech without a decrease in hearing loss. Basically, it is the result of the brain losing some ability to process information due to continual lack of sound stimulation. It occurs when one or two ears with hearing loss go without hearing sound correctly over a long period of time. Research has shown that when someone uses only one hearing aid when two are needed, the unaided ear may begin to show auditory deprivation within 2-4 years, making speech sounds distorted and unclear. Though amplification does not always prevent auditory deprivation, it has been shown to significantly reduce the problem. Fortunately, if auditory deprivation has occurred speech clarity can sometimes be recovered partially or completely over several years with proper amplification and/or aural rehabilitation.

Each of our offices have fresh stocks of any size hearing aid battery you need. The best option for batteries is to join our Battery Bank. When you join the Battery Bank, you prepay for 10 packages of batteries. You can pick up as many packages as you want or call us to have them mailed to you. This ensures that your batteries are always fresh and ready to use when you need them.

There are some troubleshooting options you can do at home if your hearing aid is not working. The first two things you will want to do are to check:

1) if the hearing aid is plugged with ear wax
2) if the battery is dead. Other problems that can cause a hearing aid not to work may include moisture, a kinked or broken tube or plugged microphones.

If you ever have any concerns about the function of your hearing aid(s), please do not hesitate to call one of our offices.

Caring for your hearing aids does not have to be difficult. The most common issues that cause hearing aid malfunction are wax, moisture, and dead batteries. You will need to clean the hearing aid regularly by using antibacterial spray (2 squirts on a paper towel) and wiping the hearing aid or earmold on a daily basis. Do not spray the hearing aid directly. Clean out any visible wax from the hearing aid or earmold with the tools (wax loop or brush) provided to you. Additionally, change your batteries according to your audiologist’s recommendations. Moisture can sometimes be a problem. Hearing aids are small computers on your ears and do not handle water well. Keep them as dry as possible. If you find that your hearing aids are always moist or if you sweat a lot, you can purchase drying kits that will help to draw moisture of the hearing aid. Finally, keep track of your hearing aid(s). Keep your hearing aids away from animals. Always keep your hearing aids in a box in a safe place when you take them out of your ears.

Hearing aids certainly help in hearing speech, but they have limitations. You can enhance your hearing by actively creating a suitable listening environment. You can have direct influence on three aspects of your environment:

• Vision: Good lighting is necessary for reading those body and facial cues to speech that are not necessarily heard, but add meaning to the message. Additionally, “visual noise” refers to those things that may be distracting, such as too many people, television, etc. Eliminate or reduce visual noise and improve the lighting to help your attention and speech understanding.
• Audition: there are many ambient (background) noises during communication that can distract or overpower the message. These include traffic, television and radio, crowds, running water, etc. Reducing the background noise when possible will improve your hearing. In areas that cannot be manipulated, personal amplification devices (FM systems) can be used with hearing aids to increase the speaker’s voice above the noise floor.
• Space: Few environments we communicate in are ideal for listening. Hearing becomes more difficult when speaking at a distance or where there are barriers, such as walls or furniture. To maximize listening, ensure that you communicate face to face in a barrier-free environment. Many people complain that they cannot hear their spouse at home, yet the spouse is in another room.

An assistive listening device (ALD) is any device that improves your communication abilities and is often used in conjunction with hearing aids. ALDs help to reduce the effects of background noise, listening at a distance, or poor room acoustics. The most common ALDs include Personal frequency modulated systems and Infrared and Bluetooth systems. Additional ALDs that can be useful are amplified telephones, text-based telephones, closed-captioning televisions, personal television amplifiers, hand-held amplifiers and alerting devices that combine visual and auditory signals. For detailed information about any of these devices, please contact one of our offices.

Tinnitus comes from the Latin verb tinnere meaning, to ring or tinkle. It can be pronounced either, TIN-it-tis or tin-EYE-tus. Tinnitus refers to the auditory perception of sound not produced by external stimulus. In other words, tinnitus is the sensation of hearing sounds either in your ears or in your head that are not actually caused by an external source. It is classified as either subjective, meaning it is heard only by the person, or as objective, meaning others can hear the person's tinnitus.

There is an estimated 50 million Americans reporting some degree of tinnitus described as more frequent than momentary. 12 million Americans reporting to suffer from tinnitus seek medical attention.

Tinnitus has been described as buzzing, ringing, roaring, whistling, static, crickets, pulsing or even as music. It can be perceived in one ear, both ears, or may seem to come from the middle of your head.

If you have concerns regarding your tinnitus please call one of our offices for a tinnitus evaluation.

If you have concerns about your tinnitus, a tinnitus evaluation is recommended. The tinnitus evaluation begins with an in-depth case history that identifies your concerns, a hearing and medical history, and provides an opportunity to fully define your tinnitus. It also includes a comprehensive hearing evaluation with additional testing to identify pitch, loudness and sound characteristics of the tinnitus. The appointment can take between one and two hours. A follow-up appointment may be recommended to discuss test results and investigate treatment options.

There are many treatment approaches used for tinnitus. Success of the approach varies depending on the person and the effect tinnitus is having on their quality of life. It is important for the patient to continue researching tinnitus and continue trying treatments until one is found that is appropriate and fitting for the patients’ individual needs. In the area of tinnitus: Knowledge is Power. Below are listed some of the more common practices in treating tinnitus. It should be noted that broadband ear level tinnitus maskers were once a popular form of treating tinnitus. Current research has definitively shown that benefits achieved with ear level maskers are short term. Therefore ear level maskers are not addressed as a tinnitus treatment approach.

Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT)

Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT)is a method to facilitate habituation of tinnitus as a means to treat it. It combines ‘sound enrichment’ therapy and directive counseling. The sound used in the therapy is employed to reduce the patients’ perception of the contrast between silence or ambient noise and the tinnitus. This reduction of the perception of tinnitus is essential to the process of habituation. Counseling and education serve to demystify tinnitus, providing the patient with an intellectual and emotional framework in which habituation can occur. TRT therapy typically lasts 18-24 months to receive maximum benefit.

Hearing Aids

Hearing aids can reduce or even eliminate tinnitus in some patients that experience hearing loss in conjunction with tinnitus. The hearing aid allows the patient to hear environmental sounds, giving the brain something else to listen to other than the tinnitus, while enhancing the patients listening and communication abilities. Treatment usually includes hearing aids fitted to amplify environmental sounds to assist in sound therapy as a part of a tinnitus retraining therapy program. Better hearing is a side effect of this treatment.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

This is a counseling approach where the person with tinnitus is taught to identify how they react to the tinnitus and then learn new responses, thereby minimizing the negative thoughts and behavior patterns associated with tinnitus. A licensed psychologist, psychiatrist, or counselor specializing in the treatment of tinnitus usually gives treatment.

Stress Management

There are many forms of stress management used today; the key is to find the one best suited to the individuals’ needs and lifestyle. Biofeedback assisted relaxation can help the person learn to control breathing, muscle tension, and heart rate. Other successful techniques include Yoga, exercise, breathing techniques, hypnosis, and meditation. Find the relaxation method that best suits your needs and lifestyle and use it often to manage stress in all aspects of your life. This approach works well for all categories of tinnitus.

Self-Help and Support/ Education Groups

Education is power. In the case of tinnitus this is often especially true. Many people find help. Learn about the newest research, and share treatment experiences with people going through similar experiences. These groups should be facilitated, or at least, attended, by an audiologist and/or psychologist specializing in tinnitus, to prevent misinformation from being conveyed. The multidisciplinary approach to treating and educating about tinnitus has been shown to be very helpful. Category 0, 1, 2, 3, & 4 can all benefit from this approach.

Drug Therapy

Currently there are no drugs that cure tinnitus. Drug therapy is used in some cases to address issues that may result from tinnitus in some people; such as anxiety, fatigue, stress, irritability, depression, and sleeplessness.

Sound Therapy/Neuromonics

Sound therapy has been successfully used with many patients to reduce the effects of tinnitus. This can be done with a commercially available program, such as Neuromonics, or through other non-commercial programs. Non-commericial sound therapy may consist of the use of music or sound generators and may include the use of a personal listening device, like an mp3 player, or through a sound field system such as a radio or a small sound generator.

Neuromonics uses a small, lightweight Oasis™ device with headphones to deliver precisely designed music embedded with an acoustic neural stimulus. These sounds, customized for each user’s audiological profile, stimulate the auditory pathway to promote neural plastic changes. Over time, these new connections help the brain to filter out tinnitus disturbance, providing long-term relief from symptoms. The six-month treatment process requires close counseling and guidance, with the professional and patient working together throughout the process.