Tinnitus: 'We're Training the Brain to Hear Other Sounds'

By Lois Thomson

Do you suffer from tinnitus? If so, you are not alone. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders estimates that approximately 10 percent of the U.S. adult population — more than 25 million Americans — experiences some form of tinnitus.

Tinnitus is a common problem that occurs when a person experiences a ringing sensation or other noises in one or both of the ears. The noise isn't caused by an external sound, and other people usually can't hear it.

Michael J. Rametta, MS, owner of Rametta Audiology & Hearing Center, said there are varying degrees of tinnitus: approximately 5 million sufferers consider it to be burdensome, while 2 million find it to be debilitating. Rametta pointed out that while there are two schools of thought as to what causes the problem, "90 percent of people who have tinnitus have an underlying case of hearing loss."

One thought is that the brain is manufacturing the noises because there's an absence of sound as a result of the hearing loss. "That's one thought, that the brain is just creating it. The other is that – there are little hair cells in your inner ear that move when your ear receives sound waves, and the brain interprets these signals as sounds. These hair cells are straight up and down when you are born, but they can get bent as you age or are exposed to loud sounds on a regular basis." (He cited singer Huey Lewis and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich as having hearing loss and tinnitus.) If the hair cells become bent, they can send random impulses to the brain, which can be interpreted as tinnitus.

While Rametta said there is no cure, approximately 88 percent have been helped so that the tinnitus no longer seems to be there – and this may be done with hearing aids. Hearing aids can help by making other sounds louder and the tinnitus therefore less noticeable. For example, they may increase the sound of a background noise in your home, like the hum of a ceiling fan. If hearing aids make it easier for you to hear, it may be easier for your brain to ignore the tinnitus. As Rametta said, "Nobody can cure it, but I just deal with how we help it. We're training the brain to hear other sounds."

He added, "Some people have tinnitus but do not have enough hearing loss to justify a hearing aid. We do have a lower success rate when a person doesn't have hearing loss; in those cases it's probably 50 percent. The solution usually is wearing a very inexpensive hearing aid that has tinnitus technology built into it."

For more information, call (724) 224-6811 or visit ramettahearing.com.