Tinnitus can be understood, assessed & managed.
Ringing. Buzzing. Hissing. Humming.
Sometimes tinnitus is barely noticeable; other times it seems to fill every quiet room.
Although there is no treatment that makes tinnitus disappear for everyone, there is a great deal we can do to understand it, identify factors that may be contributing to it, and make it less intrusive in everyday life.
At Baitz Audiology, we take the time to listen to what you’re experiencing, understand how tinnitus is affecting your life, and work with you to find a personalized plan to help manage it.
Tinnitus Assessment in Thornhill, Ontario
What is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is the perception of sound when there is no external sound source. It commonly occurs alongside hearing loss or noise exposure, but can also be associated with earwax, middle-ear conditions, medications and other auditory or medical factors.
There is no single agreed-upon cause or pathway for tinnitus. Current research suggests that it may involve changes at several levels of the auditory system and brain. Proposed explanations include reduced input from the ear, spontaneous activity in auditory pathways, and interactions between hearing, attention, stress and emotion. Different mechanisms may be involved for different people
That is why good tinnitus care begins with assessment rather than assumptions.
A comprehensive hearing assessment provides a foundational understanding of how your auditory system is functioning. We’ll consider the health of your outer ear and middle ear, including whether earwax or other middle-ear issue may be contributing to your symptoms. Addressing an underlying issue can sometimes lead to noticeable improvement.
We’ll also evaluate the loudness and pitch characteristics of your tinnitus, in an attempt to replicate what you hear with your tinnitus. We’ll discuss other characteristics of your tinnitus and consider relevant health and lifestyle factors to develop a clearer picture of what may be contributing to it. If we identify findings that require further medical investigation, we’ll guide you toward the appropriate next step.
Mapping your hearing health
Step 2
Your Tinnitus Assessment
Step 1
Understanding your tinnitus
We’ll begin by discussing when your tinnitus started, what it sounds like, how it behaves, and when you notice it most. We’ll then complete the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI), a self-report questionnaire to measure the extent to which tinnitus is impacting your daily functioning¹. Lastly, we'll review your hearing and noise-exposure history, relevant health information, medications, sleep and stress.
Our in-depth review provides context into your experience and helps us explore and identify factors that may be contributing to your tinnitus.
Building your management plan
Step 3
Based on your assessment, we’ll discuss practical strategies that may help make your tinnitus less intrusive.
If hearing loss is part of the picture, properly fitted hearing aids can restore sounds you have been missing and make tinnitus less prominent against the surrounding environment.
In a retrospective study², approximately 80% of the 490 people with chronic tinnitus and hearing loss who received hearing-aid-based sound therapy with counselling and ongoing adjustment, reported improvement in tinnitus loudness and annoyance. Results vary, and hearing aids are not a tinnitus cure, but treating an accompanying hearing loss is an important evidence-supported option.
We may also discuss sound enrichment. Tinnitus often becomes more noticeable in quiet environments, so adding comfortable background sound can reduce that contrast. This may be as simple as a fan, quiet music or a white-noise machine. Hearing aids can also restore environmental sounds, and some include dedicated tinnitus sound-generation features.
The goal does not always need to be completely masking the tinnitus. Sometimes making it less prominent is enough. This can be measured by using the Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) at regular intervals, tracking progress during treatment, and monitoring changes over the long term.
What makes tinnitus louder?
Advice about tinnitus triggers is often more definitive than the evidence warrants. Rather than asking everyone to avoid the same things, we encourage patients to look for repeatable patterns in their own experience.
There are, however, a few evidence-based lifestyle factors that may influence how noticeable or bothersome tinnitus feels. These include:
Stress
Tinnitus becomes more noticeable during periods of increased stress³. The relationship can also work both ways: tinnitus itself can contribute to stress.
If you notice that connection, addressing stress may be one useful part of your tinnitus management plan.
Sleep
Poor sleep and tinnitus can reinforce one another⁴. Tinnitus may stand out more in the quiet at bedtime, while inadequate sleep may make an intrusive sound harder to ignore the following day.
Sound enrichment at night and improving sleep quality can be particularly helpful.
Caffeine & Alcohol
There is not strong evidence that everyone with tinnitus needs to avoid caffeine or alcohol.
Some people do notice a repeatable effect, however, so your own experience can help determine whether changing your intake is worthwhile.
Your tinnitus management should fit the evidence.
When tinnitus needs more than audiology
For some, tinnitus becomes strongly connected with attention, sleep, anxiety or distress. In those cases, specialized therapies may be helpful. In certain cases, our role is to recognize when another professional should become part of your care.
Baitz Audiology does not currently provide Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or formal Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) in-house, but we are happy to refer to colleagues who specialize in these approaches when appropriate.
Thoughtful hearing care starts here.
If you’re looking for an independent audiologist in Thornhill, Baitz Audiology offers clear answers, careful assessment and hearing care built around what you actually need in a modern, attentive setting.
Our office has free parking to serve patients from Thornhill, Vaughan, Concord, Richmond Hill, Markham, North York and surrounding communities.
Book an appointment to get started.