Tinnitus Relief And Tinnitus Masker

Tinnitus relief and tinnitus masker

       Tinnitus masking is one of the most commonly used treatments for alleviating the manifestations of tinnitus. This technique uses other sounds from the environment to "mask" or "drown out" the disturbing noises generated by the illness. However, some patients reject tinnitus masking from the start, without testing it, because they do not wish to replace one sound with another. Fortunately, there exists a very simple test that might prove to these individuals that the relative quietness offered by the masking devices is better than the continuous fight for one peaceful moment.

Tinnitus masking proved: the faucet test

       When performing this test, tinnitus sufferers should stand next to a sink and turn a water faucet on at full pressure. If the running water blocks the tinnitus sounds, they might have uncovered a way for tinnitus masking to work. The faucet test has been discovered empirically due to patients reporting tinnitus relief only when showering or being next to large waterfalls.

       If the sound of running water, be it from the tap or in the wilderness, soothes your damaged hearing, that is your personal and unique tinnitus relief. You can either record it or buy a CD or DVD with specialized tinnitus relief sounds. When the whooshing in your ears gets too much to handle, you can just hit play and start relaxing.

       Unfortunately, the faucet test does not prove useful for every last one of the tinnitus sufferers out there. However, that does not mean that tinnitus masking will not work for them. In some patients, it can just signify that the hearing loss caused by this condition is severe enough that you cannot hear the masking itself, which, in return, does not drown out the annoying sounds.

How does tinnitus masking work

       Nine out of ten people that suffer from tinnitus have some sort of hearing loss, mostly involving high-pitched tones. Therefore, in order to offer relief, tinnitus masking devices operate in the high-pitched region of tones. This, of course, excludes falling water. In that case, the persons' ear simply does not have the necessary receptors to hear the masking.

       Beware, though, of false positives or negatives when undergoing a hearing test. While it is one of the most common tests in the medical world for determining the type of tinnitus a patient has, it is also one of the easiest to fool or to misinterpret. Usually, normal people are tested only for medium range and low frequencies. Therefore, if you have high frequency hearing loss (which indicates that a tinnitus masking device could work for you), the medic might not see it and you might be told that your hearing is perfectly fine. This is true, but only for the low frequencies or up to 2000 Hz.

       In recent years, many clinical studies have shown that people who fail at the faucet test can pass it in their next examination if they wear a hearing aid, which provides some measure of tinnitus relief.

        Unfortunately, there are others for which no form of tinnitus treatment works: they either hear an intense, piercing sound or they have a complex form of this condition, which makes its complete masking impossible, even with the best of gadgets.

Why does the masking work and when it should be used

       Masking works on the principle of exclusion: the masking device produces a sound, soothing and interesting, rhythmical. That sound covers the tinnitus noise, which is high-pitched and annoying.

       Many people have the ability of blocking certain sounds from the exterior world, if they are constant or monotonous (a fan, a refrigerator, a sowing machine). Same principle, same result. You ignore the masking sound, therefore ignoring the tinnitus.

       The important question that everyone seems to forget to ask their medics is: when should masking be used? The answer is a simple one: whenever you feel the need. There are moments in everyday life when you would rather hear the people around you, or the music being played in the background than the shrilling in your ears. That is when you turn on the tinnitus masking device.

       Some people never turn off their hearing aids, not even when they sleep. That is your choice to make.