Tinnitus

• Presbycusis (hearing loss due to age)
• Middle ear infections
• Wax in the ear
• Otosclerosis (inner ear bone disease)
• Meniere's disease (an abnormality with the fluids in the ear that is associated with dizziness)
• Acoustic neuroma (tumors that occur in the inner ear and affect the brain or nerves)

Other things that cause tinnitus are noise exposure and taking certain drugs, like aspirin.

Diagnosing the underlying problem

Because tinnitus is not a disease itself, you'll need to have a full ENT examination in order to determine its cause. Special hearing tests, balance tests, nerve conduction tests, or CT scans can help Dr. Alexander find the underlying problem and make an accurate diagnosis.

Treatment

If the cause is found, you can then treat the problem in many cases. For instance, if the cause is a middle ear infection then that is easily treatable. Some causes, however, will have no treatment regimen. These types of causes include presbycusis, which is simply hearing loss caused by age. If this is found to be the cause, it may be possible to mask the ringing with hearing aids or low volume environmental noise -- similar to white noise.

Other therapies for tinnitus

Tinnitus that has no apparent cause can be extremely stressful for some people. For others, simply knowing that there is no serious underlying problem allows them to better handle tinnitus and learn to deal with it on their own.

The key, however, is to try to ignore Tinnitus and focus on other things. Your body can often learn to adjust to it and move it to the "background." For those whose coping skills can't effectively handle the stress of tinnitus, there are some other therapies that can often be helpful.

Biofeedback and cognitive therapy

Biofeedback is a way to learn about your body and how to control certain processes within your body such as stress. By controlling how your body responds to stress, you may be able to also lessen your response to tinnitus.

Going hand in hand with biofeedback and controlling reactions is cognitive therapy. Cogntive therapy treats your reaction to tinnitus rather than the tinnitus itself. The goal is to identify negative behaviors associated with tinnitus and come up with alternative behaviors.

Hypnosis

Hypnosis can help set your mind up to quickly learn the altered responses you need in order to deal with tinnitus.

Acupuncture

Often bringing temporary relief, acupuncture helps free the flow of "life energy" that is necessary for good health. Disrupting the flow leads to illness according to the principals of acupuncture.

For more information, visit the American Tinnitus Association.