Explaining the top questions about tinnitus

  Tinnitus is divided into subjective tinnitus and objective tinnitus. What people usually call tinnitus is the sound that is subjectively perceived by the human ear without the stimulation of external sound sources. It is a subjective sensation that occurs in the auditory system and is a symptom rather than a disease. It is often felt that there is some specific sound in the ear, but the corresponding sound source cannot be found around. Due to the limited knowledge and diagnosis available, the cause of tinnitus cannot be found in about 40% of tinnitus patients, but most of them are related to psychological and psychiatric factors. Long-term tinnitus can affect hearing, sleep, mood, work or study, and can seriously affect family life. Since the cause of tinnitus is complex, there is a lack of effective treatment, but we can identify tinnitus based on the available tests, including frequency and loudness matching of tinnitus tones, determination of tinnitus maskability (minimum masking level), and determination of residual inhibition of tinnitus. The test allows us to find the main tone and loudness of tinnitus, so that tinnitus masking treatment can be performed with a tinnitus masking device for patients who have failed to respond to long-term medication. The tinnitus masker, which is shaped like an mp3, generates specialized narrowband noise, the sound of running water, rain, birdsong and wind-blown leaves, etc. By listening to these masked sounds for a long time, the patient will experience the “post-inhibition phenomenon. The “post-inhibition phenomenon” refers to the continuation of the tinnitus suppression effect or the reduction of tinnitus loudness after the masking device is removed. If the masking treatment is adhered to for a long time, the duration of the “post-inhibition phenomenon” will be gradually prolonged, which means that the interval between tinnitus attacks will be prolonged and the duration of the attacks will be gradually shortened, and tinnitus will no longer occur even after the tinnitus masker is removed.