Looking for a Tinnitus Specialist — My Partner Started Recently Experiencing Tinnitus

I am wondering if anyone one has recommendations of tinnitus specialists, or how I would navigate finding one?

My partner has recently started experiencing severe tinnitus and is very young for this to occur. He is someone who is very stubborn and also not willing to entertain options that simply manage the symptoms. Although I know there is no cure I hear of instances of where someone’s tinnitus either goes away or is significantly reduced. He would 100% choose to end his life if this is in fact permanent for him and there would be nothing I could do about it.

I want to help him see the best doctor he possibly can and someone who understands that he wants to treat the underlying issue and not just learn to “live with it” better.

Any help would greatly be appreciated! This is really terrible.

 

Hi @Knet24

Your partner needs to speak to his primary health physician who may refer him to see an ENT specialist, who will try and find out what is causing the tinnitus. Whether it is caused by an underlying medical condition within the auditory system or is noise induced? Noise induced tinnitus is one of the most common causes of the condition. If his tinnitus is noise induced, the ENT doctor should recommend that he see an audiologist that specialises in tinnitus and hyperacusis management.

If your partner regularly uses any type of headphones including earbuds and headsets, or is exposed to loud noise, this could indicate that he has noise induced tinnitus. If this is the case, my advice is not to use any type of headphones even at low volume.

Michael

 

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your reply. My partner has already seen an audiologist and is planning on seeing an ENT soon. He does believe it is noise induced even though he has good hearing overall. I just want to be sure that he sees someone who has expertise in tinnitus and can maybe create some more hope for him, because he is fully expecting that they are going to tell him he just needs to “live with it” and take some Xanax, which he does not want to do. He also seems to think they are going to tell him to wear hearing aids or go see a therapist, which he also feels won’t be ultimately helpful, or helpful enough.

Thanks for the advice about headphones. I know he has been using music at low volumes lately to help. I’m not sure if he is using headphones anymore. He does ride a motorcycle and I know he uses headphones for that.

Currently I am trying to talk to him about things as little as possible because he said talking about it makes it worse. So my current plan is to wait for him to bring it up and then bring up things that I learn at those times. His sleep has also been majorly affected which is not helping things. Thanks again.

Knet24

 

Hi, I heard Dr. Dirk de Ridder is a neurosurgeon and he specializes in tinnitus.

You can request an appointment here:

https://www.brai3n.com/en/contact/

He might be able to help, I don't know... I am myself having a really really hard time with tinnitus too. I hope we recover.

 

Hi @Knet24.

Thank you for the additional information. Most ENT doctors do not specialise in treating tinnitus because this is not their area of expertise. They treat underlying medical conditions within the auditory system that cause tinnitus and there are many but they don't treat the condition.

A person that has noise induced tinnitus, should be referred to an audiologist that specialises in tinnitus and hyperacusis management. Treatment can consist of counselling, sound therapy, medication and hearing aids if their is a significant amount of hearing loss. Hearing loss can make tinnitus worse, however, I do not believe they should automatically prescribed as some audiologist do, simply because a person has noise induced tinnitus with or without hyperacusis.

Noise induced tinnitus can improve naturally over time without any specialised treatment. It all depends how long your partner has had noise induced tinnitus and how severe it is?

One of the best treatments for noise induced tinnitus is TRT (Tinnitus Retraining Therapy). This consists of counselling and wearing white noise generators for sound therapy. CBT is also good. These treatments can be expensive and they also need to be administered correctly. Please go to my started threads and read the articles that I am going to mention below. If possible print them and give them to your partner to read. Please advise him to take time to read the articles. This way he will absorb and retrain the information better rather than reading on a screen. They are specifically written for people with noise induced tinnitus.

Advice is also given on self help and therefore, he may not need to see an audiologist for counselling, CBT or TRT. It all depends how severe the tinnitus and hyperacusis (if present) is affecting his mental and emotional wellbeing? Please try to encourage him to read this post and the articles mentioned. He needs to change his attitude and to be less stubborn because noise induced tinnitus requires listening and having a lot of patience.

New to Tinnitus, What to Do? Tinnitus, a Personal View. Hyperacusis, as I See It. The Habituation Process. Tinnitus and the Negative Mindset, Acquiring a Positive Mindset. Will My Tinnitus Get Worse? What Is TRT and When Should It Be Started? How to Habituate to Variable Tinnitus. From Darkness into Light.

I advise your partner not to use any type of headphones even at low volume.

All the best,
Michael

 

Thank you so much for all the information! That really helps.

 

You are welcome @Knet24.

If you have anymore concerns, please ask.

Take care,
Michael