The Seniors Health Network each month poses a question to health-care professionals. This month, network member Ken Jones, who suffers from tinnitus, was asked to respond to this question:
“I have a friend, who is a senior who has just been diagnosed with tinnitus. I don’t know much about the condition or where to help her get some support.”
What is tinnitus?
Tinnitus is a brain-generated sound that in most cases is only heard by you. It is a symptom resulting from some injury along the hearing pathway between the ear drum and the auditory part of the brain. That includes the inner-ear bones, the snail-shell-shaped cochlea and its sets of frequency-detecting hair cells, and the auditory nerve connection to the brain.
What does tinnitus sound like?
People perceive it in many different ways: high-pitched hissing, ringing, buzzing, tinkling, clicking and others.
What causes tinnitus?
There are many causes of tinnitus, about 55 per cent are related to loud-noise exposure, lesser amounts are from neck or head injuries (like whiplash), inner-ear infection or calcification of the inner-ear bones, some antibiotics and some anti-depressants, and in a small number of cases, a tumour.
Who does it affect?
People of all ages, genders and ethnicities, but it appears to be more common in industrial societies. There is no indication that heredity is a factor. Statistics suggest that approximately 20 per cent of the population experiences tinnitus. Many suffer in silence because only they can hear the tinnitus, or they have been told that, “Yes, you have tinnitus, you’re going to have it for the rest of your life and there is nothing we can do about it”.
But there is hope!
What can we do about tinnitus?
Firstly, reduce stress, and think positively about your tinnitus. Join a Tinnitus Self-Help Group and learn about the Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT). In many cases, the greater the stress, the louder the tinnitus is.
TRT is a brain-training process that teaches the central sorting area of your brain that decides which of your senses are going to be acted on or ignored. TRT works to convince this area that it can ignore the sound, and you will not hear it. It may take from three months to two years to achieve this.
There is no cure for tinnitus, so we treat the symptoms . Researchers Dr. Jastreboff and Dr. Hazell developed the TRT in 2004, and then trained audiologists around the world in their therapy. In this area, St. Paul’s Hospital Hearing Clinic and Sound IdEARS Hearing Clinic each have a trained audiologist.
There are two websites that are recommended to learn more: tinn.com and ata.org. Local groups meet at Holy Trinity Church (at 12 Avenue and Hemlock Street in Vancouver) and Century House (New Westminster). Email kenjjones@gmail.com or nwtinn@inbox.com
Ken Jones has been facilitating the Greater Vancouver Self Help Group since 1996 and is an advocate for people with tinnitus.
The South Surrey White Rock Seniors Health Network is a coalition of seniors service providers working under the auspices of the Mayor of White Rock’s office. For information on community resources, visit sswr.fetchbc.ca.
If you have a question for publication, please email seniorshealthnetworksswr@gmail.com