Tinnitus Relief

Tinnitus is the medical term that describes the ringing in the ears that affects as much as 20 percent of the population, according to the Mayo Clinic. Tinnitus is not a medical condition. It is one of the symptoms of another disorder, such as Meniere's disease or an injury to the ear. Relief from tinnitus can come in a number of ways, with such treatments as masking the noise, medications and surgery.

Medications

• While medications cannot cure tinnitus, they have been seen to lessen the effects of the condition. Antidepressants such as nortriptyline have been employed against tinnitus but are used only in the most severe cases. The side effects of such drugs include dry mouth, constipation and heart trouble so they are not prescribed except when little else has worked. The anti-anxiety drug Xanax and others similar to it have been found to be effective in helping to reduce the symptoms of tinnitus, but these medications can be habit forming and bring drowsiness and nausea. A drug called Campral, normally used to treat alcoholism, has shown some promise as a relief for tinnitus.

Masking

• One of the most widely used treatment to provide relief from tinnitus is to mask the sound. This is accomplished with the use of devices such as white noise machines and hearing aids. A white noise machine manufactures soothing sounds such as ocean waves or rainfall that give some relief from tinnitus. Hearing aids can allow a person with tinnitus a better ability to understand what is being said. Other masking devices are similar in nature to hearing aids and can be worn just as hearing aids are. They produce low-level noise that the individual will eventually automatically ignore, with the tinnitus sounds also being ignored at the same time.

Faucet Test

• A simple test can determine whether masking will provide tinnitus relief. Stand next to a running faucet, and if the sound makes you not notice tinnitus, then masking should be able to work. Even when the faucet test does not drown out the ringing in the ears, it might mean that the person suffers from a hearing loss. Those that do have a loss of hearing may be helped by a higher-pitched masking sound.

Surgery

• When tinnitus is extreme, surgery may be considered. Inner ear injuries are typically to blame for severe tinnitus symptoms. However, surgery does not guarantee relief since, in some cases, the source of the problem is located in the brain, where it cannot be dealt with. Such surgeries are normally performed only at institutions that have highly specialized auditory surgeons because the hearing nerve needs to be divided to give any relief.

Other Treatments

• In some instances tinnitus is brought about by medical conditions that when treated may relieve the symptoms of the ear ringing. A common problem that can be easily remedied is a buildup of wax in the ear canal. Hearing problems related to blood pressure and blood vessels may be corrected with medications and/or surgery. In some cases a certain medication can cause tinnitus; changing the dosage or switching to a new drug often helps the problem.