If you have recently developed tinnitus, you may have already encountered two treatment options: tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Both are intended to make tinnitus easier to live with, but they approach the problem differently. TRT is based on the idea that education, counselling, and sound-based strategies may help your brain … Read more
If you have tinnitus, you may have heard about vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) as a new approach to reducing ringing, buzzing, or humming in the ears. Unlike treatments that focus on hearing support or coping with tinnitus, VNS aims to influence the brain’s response to sound by stimulating a nerve that connects the brain with … Read more
If you have tinnitus, you may have searched for treatments that go beyond masking the sound or learning to live with it. Transcranial magnetic stimulation, often called TMS or repetitive TMS (rTMS), is one treatment you may encounter. It uses magnetic pulses to influence brain activity, and researchers have investigated whether this can reduce the … Read more
If you have tinnitus, you may have come across transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, as a possible way to reduce ringing, buzzing, or humming in your ears. Some descriptions make it sound like a promising way to retrain the brain. Others suggest that the treatment is experimental, inconsistent, or unlikely to help. It is … Read more
If you have recently developed tinnitus, the idea of neurofeedback can sound almost too good to be true: sit in front of a computer, measure your brain activity, and somehow teach the brain to stop noticing the sound. The reality is more complicated. Tinnitus is not simply a sound trapped inside the ear. For many … Read more
If you have tinnitus, you may eventually encounter claims that hypnotherapy can make the ringing disappear or somehow “reprogram” the brain to stop producing tinnitus. That can be appealing when tinnitus is frightening or exhausting. But it also creates confusion: if tinnitus is an auditory symptom, how could hypnosis affect it? Is hypnotherapy treating the … Read more
If you have tinnitus, you may eventually come across cochlear implants while searching for treatment options. That can be both confusing and frightening. A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted hearing device, so it is reasonable to wonder: Is an implant actually a treatment for tinnitus? Could it make tinnitus worse? Do I need severe … Read more
If you have recently developed tinnitus, you may have noticed something strange: the sound sometimes seems louder when you are anxious, exhausted, or trying desperately to make it disappear. Then, during a calm or absorbing activity, it may become less noticeable. That experience can make biofeedback sound especially promising. The basic idea is simple: if … Read more
If you have recently developed tinnitus, you may have come across tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) and wondered what actually happens during an appointment. The name can make TRT sound more complicated—or more promising—than it really is. You might imagine that a clinician somehow “reprograms” the brain to switch tinnitus off. That is not what happens. … Read more
Hearing a ringing, buzzing, hissing, humming, or other unexplained sound can be unsettling—especially when nobody else can hear it. If you have recently developed tinnitus, one of the first questions you may ask is: “Will this ever go away?” The answer is more complicated than simply saying yes or no. Tinnitus is a symptom, not … Read more