TINNITUS – THE UNPAID SINGER
TINNITUS – THE UNPAID SINGER
You hear some good music and find the experience out of the world. The music lingers in your mind even after the event is over and you enjoy the sensation for some time. Imagine the same crooning goes on and on in your ears for days together, how would you feel? You will want to shrug it off and keep your ears totally sound-free. That is what tinnitus does to us. There was always continuous ringing sound which can affect you orientation and obstruct you from hearing other sounds around you properly. It can be devastating.
Tinnitus is known to affect older people normally, but when the youngsters are exposed to certain abnormal conditions like continuous loud noise, or such sounds which are way higher than normal decibels, certain sudden injury to the brain or the ears themselves, or certain medicines, could damage the ears and lead to tinnitus. A definitive cause for tinnitus is yet to be found. Sometimes, tinnitus could be accompanied by hearing loss too, in which case a hearing aid might prove somewhat useful. Measures like tinnitus retraining therapy, that is, psychologically training the patients to learn to live with the sound are being tried. Tinnitus masking therapies are also being tried on the patients, which should suppress the ringing sound. But the doctors fear that if the patients get used to masking, it might to lead to their heavy dependence on it and they may not learn to live with tinnitus.
In any case one must consult a specialist, if one has been experiencing such ringing sound continuously, even in the absence of any such external sounds. According to the specialists, immediate measures to be taken by the patients would be to avoid loud noises, monitor blood pressure, reduce salt in diet, and avoid caffeinated beverages, good exercise and enough rest for he body and brain. Patients have to cooperate and tinnitus can be self-managed to some extent.
