Tinnitus
That ringing or buzzing only you can hear
Moraira · Jávea · El Albir
We assess it, explain your options and stay with you.And if what you need is a doctor, we'll tell you.
Moraira · Jávea · El Albir
We assess it, explain your options and stay with you.And if what you need is a doctor, we'll tell you.
Tinnitus is a sound you hear without there being any source outside your head.A ringing, a buzzing, a hissing.Nobody else can hear it.
It is not an illness: it is a symptom. And it is far more common than people think. Those who come to our centres describe it in very different ways: some as a constant high-pitched ringing; others as a background hum; and some only notice it when they go to bed, once everything falls quiet.
Its intensity is not fixed.Tiredness, stress or a noisy day usually make it more noticeable.Rest and certain background sounds, on the other hand, help it go unnoticed.
Many people also say they struggle to follow a conversation when there is noise around them. There is a reason for that: tinnitus often appears alongside a hearing loss that had gone unnoticed until then.
If there is a hearing loss as well, a hearing aid can help in two ways: by hearing the sounds around you better, the tinnitus stands out less; and some models have a built-in generator that produces a soft background sound.
As with any hearing aid, you try it before deciding anything.
Prolonged exposure to loud noise: machinery, loud music, headphones
Age-related hearing loss
A build-up of earwax or an ear infection
Circulatory problems
A side effect of some medicines
There are many possible causes, and a single one cannot always be identified.
This is the first thing we will say to you, and we would rather say it here too.
Tinnitus that comes on suddenly, in one ear only, or along with dizziness or a sudden loss of hearing, needs to be seen by a doctor — the sooner the better. We are not doctors and we do not diagnose: if we see any of those signs, we refer you to an ENT specialist and explain why.
We also look inside the ear canal before anything else. If there is a build-up of earwax, we refer you to have it removed, because sometimes the buzzing is simply down to that.
How long you have noticed it, what it sounds like, when it appears, whether it keeps you awake. That conversation guides everything else.
We look inside the ear canal.
Because tinnitus and hearing loss very often go together, and nothing can be considered without knowing how you hear.
We measure the characteristics of the sound you hear: the pitch it most resembles and how loud it is. That gives us something to work with and lets us see whether it changes over time.
And which of them make sense in your case.
This is the approach with the longest track record.It combines soft sounds with habituation work so that the brain stops paying attention to the tinnitus.
And here we should be clear: it does not make it go away. What it aims for is that it stops taking up your attention, in the same way you stop hearing the fridge at home even though it is still running. It is a process of months, not days, and it does not work the same way for everyone.
Auditory retraining is provided by Sandra Meyer, a qualified hearing care professional, in El Albir and Moraira.
There is no pill and no device that makes tinnitus disappear, and anyone who tells you otherwise is not telling you the truth.
What we can do is assess it calmly, tell you whether there is a hearing loss behind it, explain the options open to you and stay with you if you decide to try them. If we don't think we can help in your case, we'll say so.
The same assessment at all three.Choose the one closest to you.
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Avenida de Palmela 70 · JáveaFree parking at the Milar car park
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