Recommendation for ENT Who Specializes in Tinnitus

Dr. Nagler,

I have been to 3 ENT's who have all told me to "learn to live with it". I live in Lake Tahoe. Do you have any recommendations for ENTs in the area that specialize in tinnitus?

Kindly,

Jennifer McCombs

 

Hi @jmccombs82 -

I am not an ENT, nor do I know any ENTs in your area.

But your question brings up a larger issue. ENT (or otolaryngology) is a surgical discipline involving the ear, nose, and throat. Tinnitus, however, is a non-surgical condition largely involving the brain. Hopefully at some point prior to an ENT's telling you to "learn to live with it" (however insensitive that phraseology might be) he or she has established that (1) whatever is causing your tinnitus, it is not something that can be fixed and in-so-doing fix your tinnitus, and (2) whatever is causing your tinnitus, it is not a threat your health, life, or well-being. Once those two conditions have been met, then as I see it, you no longer need an ENT - and instead you should be searching for a licensed healthcare professional of any flavor who is knowledgeable and experiences in successfully treating tinnitus sufferers.

Unfortunately there is no "tinnitus clinician clearing house," but a good place to start would be by asking your audiologist if he or she knows anybody with knowledge and expertise in tinnitus. And then you need to do your own due diligence by contacting those recommended individuals and asking them how they treat tinnitus sufferers, why they use that approach or those approaches, how many tinnitus sufferers they have treated, what there success rates are, and how they define success.

For you in Lake Tahoe, perhaps you might contact Dr. Allen Rohe - an audiologist located in Tempe, Arizona - and get his thoughts on your situation.

Dr. Stephen Nagler