Masking Tinnitus

In order for us to better understand what the subject is all about, we must first understand what tinnitus is. Others perceived tinnitus as a disease but it is not. It is considered as a symptom. Tinnitus is a medical term for a symptom, which affects a person’s sense of hearing. It is where a person affected perceives to hear something without the presence of an actual external sound. Possible causes of this are:

-          Aging and other natural hearing impairment

-          Side effects of medications especially those applied in the inner ear

-          Congenital hearing loss

-          Exposure to noisy environment, which among those mentioned is the most common cause.

Doctor Spaulding, in 1903, used a piano to determine the frequency of tinnitus that his patient is suffering. After some careful study, he then decided to use a wind instrument so that he can control and prolonged the sound. He increases the volume that the instrument makes so that it is impossible for the patient to hear the tinnitus.

Aside from Dr. Spaulding’s attempt in masking tinnitus, researchers named Jones and Knudsen also tried in 1928. An auditory system was invented. This produces similar sound as a tinnitus but is louder. This instrument later on became the first bedside masker of patients with tinnitus.

Jack Vernon Ph.D. was the one who made a breakthrough in masking tinnitus in 1973. He led a group of researchers who was able to developed choices for patients on how to treat tinnitus.

In this modern day, there are already available and immediate solutions offered to patients, which is one of the reasons why tinnitus masking was made. Stated below are the different types of masking tinnitus:

1. Simple tinnitus masker
2. Hearing aid

Simple tinnitus masker looks like a hearing aid but it is not. People who don’t have hearing loss but is having difficulty hearing external sounds use this type of masker. This works by adding white noise to the masker that covers the sound of tinnitus.

Hearing aid are used by people who already loss their sense of hearing. This masker works by increasing the external sounds and lessen the sound of tinnitus that the patient hears. The more the person gets accustomed to the external sound, the more that the sound of their tinnitus makes is lessened.

There are already specialty stores who make various types of tinnitus maskers that you can place on tabletops. These tinnitus maskers can be made to play various white noises. It can focus on nature, household sounds, mechanical sounds, etc. These types of tinnitus maskers are especially beneficial to those patients who are suffering from difficulty in sleeping because of the symptom. A patient who doesn’t want to use medical devices also prefers this method although effective results of it are often few.

Whatever choice of tinnitus masker a patient prefers, it is best to consult medical experts first in order to avoid further complications of the symptom. But still, prevention is better than cure.