There is a new habituation therapy designed for those who have tinnitus or ringing ears. This therapy is called as Tinnitus Retraining Therapy. This treatment, which is relatively new, has 80 percent success rate in a trial mad. This therapy uses the idea that the brain can ignore noise that a person used to hear everyday. The person must be patient as this treatment may take effect within the first 18 months.
It uses counselling to make the patient understand of how combining tinnitus retraining and sound enrichment can put an end to negative reaction to tinnitus sound, then gradually end their perception of it. Usually, to provide a background noise level, a noise generator is used in Tinnitus Retraining Therapy. The treatment’s goal is to offer hope to tinnitus sufferers if they could in turn take the time and make an effort in learning and implementing it.
To succeed in this treatment, an effort to know about tinnitus and the whole course of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy must be understood by the one who wishes to take this therapy. It would benefit him to have a basic knowledge that through the subconscious auditory neuronal networks, auditory cortex perceives sound.
This is how Tinnitus Retraining Therapy is conceptualized. A person living in a noisy area all throughout his life won’t notice his noisy surrounding lest somebody would mention it. But as for those living in a quiet subdivision, if he then is required to relocate in a noisy area, he would recognize the noise in the surrounding. This is because, a person living in a noisy area, already perceived the sound as a noise, and the brain gives no meaning to it, and so it tunes out the sound. This brain function is called Auditory Habituation. This is the concept used in Tinnitus Retraining Therapy.
So how can we retrain the brain in such a way that the brain won’t get a negative reaction to the noise or ringing ears, or tinnitus allowing auditory habituation through Tinnitus Retraining Therapy? By listening to a constant digitally created full audio spectrum white noise, MP 3 or CD. The level of the sound must be below that of the level of the ear noise, so that it makes the ear noise less noticeable. The sound would make the plasticity of the brain to increase, in such a way that it wouldn’t cause an emotional response. This would result in auditory habituation.
The patient undergoing the treatment must be cooperative in the procedure. He must help himself in finishing the course. There are things that the patient must be prepared of before submitting to the procedure. Different brain functions must be understood. Patient must have faith in the procedure, as well as patience. These two can contribute to the result of getting into Tinnitus Retraining Therapy since it would take at least 18 months for the entire course. If patient does not have the patience, it might wear him off in the middle of the treatment. And a positive outlook will keep the patient aspire that his tinnitus problem can be overcome.
Barbara Thomson strives to provide the best possible information available on tinnitus retraining therapy. To learn more about tinnitus retraining therapy visit her blog.
