If you ask around, chances are you’ll discover a friend or relative has chronic tinnitus, which is a persistent “ringing in the ears” or “sound in the head” with no external source. Those with tinnitus may experience any number of auditory sounds, like whistling, buzzing, chirping, hissing, or humming. The sounds may come and go or worse—they may be constantly there. It’s no fun having tinnitus.
Did you know about 60 million Americans have tinnitus? It’s especially prevalent in older people, past the age of 55. Most assume it means they’re “going deaf,” but that is generally not the case.
So how do you deal with tinnitus? You could try various drugs, supplements or herbs like ginkgo biloba, or even acupuncture, but chances are they won’t help. For tinnitus, it may be better to get professional therapy that involves helping a person build their coping skills so the sound(s) in their head become less bothersome over time. If you suffer with tinnitus, ask a doctor about “cognitive behavioral therapy” or “tinnitus retraining therapy.” Some people have had success with masking devices, which use low-level white noise to essentially cancel out the tinnitus sound(s). Even something as simple as listening to music on the radio can alleviate the annoyance of tinnitus—getting a person’s brain to concentrate on music sounds instead of the persistent tinnitus “ringing in the ears.”
Tinnitus typically comes from your ears being exposed to really, really loud noises. If you shoot guns, for instance, you should always be wearing hearing protection, such as custom ear plugs from Electronic Shooters Protection, in order to protect yourself from hearing loss and the thing no one wants: tinnitus.
Christopher Andersen
I have developed tinnitus 4 years ago, diagnosed by my Doctor. The frequency’s that I hear change during certain situations or when I’m around certain people. When it happens around certain people the frequency jumps up and down. My friend’s think I’m going crazy and I’m afraid my Doctor will say I need to go in a nut house or have tons of tests on me. Being poked and prodded. It seems to be tied in with, this going to sound crazy but people with extreme greed or a certain dislike for me. I have felt this when I played my baritone in Drum corps. recently. It got so bad I had to quit. Not everyone gets along, especially when you are in a group setting such as this. Now I would feel these frequency changes while there was no music being played. When we would play the sound of the music would cover it up. Strangely as it seems. I seem to be affected by certain frequency’s or even like electrical currents going through my body when I’m around certain people. Maybe I’m going nuts. Scared and confused.