Tinnitus is the term for noise, which is heard ‘in the ear’ or ‘in the head’. It has no
external source and is described as ringing, whistling, buzzing or a multitude of
other sounds. It can happen either continuously or intermittently.

 

 
It may occur naturally with ageing or prolonged exposure to loud noises in
workplaces. Excessive loudness of modern musical amplification is causing
younger people to experience Tinnitus. It may also be due to an underlying
ear disease. Often, it may worsen after an emotional upset or recent ill health.

 

Research indicates that Tinnitus does not cause deafness. Tinnitus may affect
your ability to concentrate, thus, resulting in ‘missing’ parts of a conversation..

 

• Some affected persons may experience anxiety and fear. This is partly due to
  the uncertainty of the condition which leads one to fear that there could be
  an underlying tumour or if one may result in deafness in the future.
• Sleep disturbances are very common as some patients report difficulty
  falling asleep which results in daytime tiredness
• Concentration skills may also be affected and could impact on one’s
  performance of daily activities involving both work and social events
  

 

If your Tinnitus is caused by an underlying curable ear condition, specific
therapy with medication or surgery could be the solution. In general, there
is no specific drug or operation to get rid of Tinnitus per se, if the cause is
not obvious. However, there are coping strategies and sound therapy to
reduce the effects of the problem.

 

The first thing to do is to visit your ENT doctor. An examination of your
ear and a hearing test will be done to exclude any underlying conditions.
Further therapeutic recommendations may then be offered.

You should try not to worry! The fear that Tinnitus may indicate a serious
disease or advancing deafness can usually be a false alarm. Most people
could adapt with time, so that Tinnitus becomes much less significant.

 

Coping strategies :

• Environmental Sound Therapy – try to avoid silence as tinnitus sounds
  tend to become louder. Open the window to allow natural sounds into
  the quiet room, have a noisy fan, a table fountain or low-level music to act
  as background noise.
• Music therapy - Mix/ blend the music with tinnitus. Do not use music to
  mask out the tinnitus as when the music stop playing, the tinnitus will
  actually become louder.
• Apply breathing exercises or relaxation techniques when anxiety and
  tension arises.
• Distraction techniques are short term strategy but it works to reduce the
  focus on tinnitus

 

In Changi General Hospital, we have a dedicated multi-disciplinary clinical
programme to help Tinnitus sufferers. The Tinnitus Evaluation and
Rehabilitation Programme offers informative counselling and rehabilitative
methods (including Tinnitus Retraining Therapy) to enable sufferers to
overcome their disability. For an appointment at the Ear-Dizziness-Tinnitus
Clinic, please call Tel : 6850 3333.