Pittsburgh’s Top-Rated Premiere Audiologists, serving patients in 5 locations throughout Southwestern PA!
Pittsburgh’s Top-Rated Premiere Audiologists, serving patients in 5 locations throughout Southwestern PA!
Tinnitus is an inconvenient disorder described as a ringing sound within the human ear that occurs without a trigger from external auditory sounds. The sound can also be described as buzzing, hissing, humming, roaring, whistling, cricket-like or pulsatile. Tinnitus is a widespread symptom with 40 percent of the adults experiencing tinnitus, but only one to two percent will find their tinnitus debilitating.
Audiologists at Hearing Unlimited can provide excellent tinnitus management and treatment based on their knowledge of hearing and hearing loss, hearing measurement, and habilitation of hearing loss. We offer an extensive array of both subjective and objective diagnostic audiological tests. We’ve been providing unsurpassed hearing health care to residents of the Southwestern Pennsylvania area since 1949. Call 412-347-5550 or book an appointment online.
Tinnitus can be an extremely bothersome condition, but our audiologists are well equipped to diagnose and treat it. We conduct any combination of standard hearing tests, movement tests, and imaging tests to determine possible causes of your tinnitus. Psychoacoustic matching procedures are also used to measure the loudness of the ringing in your ears, so we can customize a treatment plan to your needs. Contact us to learn more about our tinnitus treatment options!
The cause of tinnitus is not completely understood yet. Tinnitus is not a disease but rather a sign of something else. It can be due to flaws in your hearing system, misfiring in the brain, or even due to prescription medications. The most common cause of tinnitus, however, is hearing loss.
Current theories suggest that when hearing declines, the brain can develop its own noise to make up for the lack of sound signals coming from the ear. New research has found that many people report the onset of tinnitus after experiencing depression or significant stress or anxiety. It is essential to identify the symptoms and see an audiologist for a full evaluation to investigate possible causes.
Many medicines - including aspirin, Aleve, Advil, and Indocin – can cause tinnitus. And some antibiotics, such as gentamicin and erythromycin, also can induce tinnitus. Foods often implicated in turning up the tinnitus volume include those with caffeine and salt – and Tonic water, due to its quinine content, can also make Tinnitus worse.
Our team will examine your ears, head, and neck to look for possible causes of tinnitus. Testing options also include a standard hearing test; movement tests (to see how they do or do not affect your symptoms); and imaging tests.
We will also measure the loudness of tinnitus from a range of 1 (low loudness) to 10 (high loudness) using psychoacoustic matching procedures (measurements of tinnitus pitch and loudness). Additionally, anxiety from tinnitus is measured using a questionnaire.
Although there is no cure for tinnitus, there are several treatments that may give you some relief. Not every treatment works for everyone, so you may need to try several to find the ones that help.
As part of tinnitus care, it’s also important to consider your mental health. Talk to your doctor if you worry that your diagnosis is causing stress, anxiety, depression, or other similar and troubling symptoms.