How Do I Find My Tinnitus Category (Level)?

How do I find my tinnitus category (level)? Is it measured by an instrument...?

 

According to Professor Pawel Jastreboff developer of TRT there are 4 categories of tinnitus. This information is taken from the Tinnitus Retraining Therapy book available from Amazon. It is the Reference book that all Hearing Therapists and Audiologist follow for the treatment and management of tinnitus when practicing TRT therapy.

Category 0 Patients show a low level of tinnitus severity and it is relatively mild.

Category (1) Patients have tinnitus of high severity as their predominant complaint and do not have other hearing related problems or hyperacusis

Category (2) Patients have tinnitus coexisting with hearing loss

Category (3) Patients have significant hyperacusis, with or without significant tinnitus. Neither tinnitus nor hypercusis exhibit prolonged exacerbation following sound exposure. However misophonia will be more prevalent in this category. It is always assumed hyperacusis is present in this catergory and desensitizing the auditory system is the treatment, using wearable white noise generators.

Category (4) Patients are the most difficult to treat. Hyperacusis is the dominant compliant with tinnitus as secondary or absent. They experience the exacerbation of symtoms for prolonged periods of time as a result of noise exposure.

Patients in all groups are advised to use sound enrichment to the auditory system at all times and to avoid silence.