Will There Ever Be a Way to Find Out Why You Have Tinnitus?

[RonnieCarzatto]

I'm not talking so much about a cure or treatment, well maybe I mean a treatment. A cure, from what I gather, is either not that far off, or a pipe dream.

What I'm talking about is finding out what exactly is causing your tinnitus. I've been reading a lot about ENT visits lately from various forum members both here and elsewhere, and thinking about my ENT visit from a few months ago. I couldn't believe the doctor made absolutely zero effort to find out what may be causing my tinnitus. Nerve damage? Hearing loss? Etc..

At the same time, I don't think ENTs or doctors for that matter have any method of finding out any of this information. Unless it's obvious I suppose. I mean, acoustic neuroma is an obvious cause, and it takes an MRI to find out that information. And yet, my ENT said an MRI was absolutely unnecessary.

So my question for you all is, do you think in the future, there will be a way to determine what may be causing this stupid and horrible affliction? Or is there already such a way, and the doctors just really don't care all that much?

I keep hoping maybe one day there will be a clinic devoted to helping those with hearing disorders and tinnitus. And not just the kind that push hearing aids on you.

 

[EatMoTacos]

I think I doctors and researchers are starting to get and uprise of more and more younger people with T. Example younger generations are starting to use headphones for entertains, video games, cell phones, etc. As we are already seeing this I firmly believe ENTs are probably getting more and more people in offices complaining about about T.

I see specialized tinnitus clinics right around the corner that should specialize in better management, hearing protection and possible future audio/drug therapies. Problems is that Tinnitus is always pushed aside as something as nothing.

The current Audiogram has to change... just because they test you from 500hz to 8khz, everything is fine an dandy. Nope. I disagree, it's so antiquated and old that for example I can hear up to 16khz on my left ear but my right I can't only hear up to 11.5khz at almost 10% volume. What I'm saying is that this need to change and hearing test should now go up to the higher frequencies in order to determine if one has hearing loss or not. I've test my audiogram for the past 7 years and guess what it's still the same. But my T has gotten worse over the past two years and only conclusion I can think of is high frequency hearing loss. Which is what I have.

Since I got Tinnitus in 2007, I remember searching the web countless hours looking for specialized clinics or management treatments and nothing. It was like finding a needle in a hay stack.

Now the internet is full with Doctors testing new future treatment plans, clinical trials, etc.. I do believe they know where Tinnitus comes from. It's the mater of how to combat it and close the gaps that nature cannot do for us.

 

[RonnieCarzatto]

I agree. I had never heard of hidden higher frequency hearing loss. And the worst part was, I brought that up with my ENT and he immediately dismissed such an idea (told me "stop Googling medical issues and leave it to the professionals"). He firmly believed the audiogram test he conducted for me was sacrosanct. Essentially, since my hearing on that audiogram was "great", he immediately dismissed any concerns about my tinnitus. Over and done... it's like he stopped caring at that moment. "You have good hearing according to this" and said, "next".

As I mentioned, I understand ENTs and medicine in general are a little behind the times on tinnitus. They only know so much and tinnitus is still a mystery no doubt. But what's been really bothering me lately is I have always been told, tinnitus is not the disease, it's a symptom. It's a sign of something. And from my experience and judging from various forum posts, no one in the medical field that's available to the layman wants to make the effort of finding out what that something is. It would be great to be told, "your tinnitus is caused by hidden hearing loss", etc.. I guess this is where the idea of a dedicated hearing/tinnitus clinic would come in. I'm hoping we have imaging technology that scan your inner ear and give more answers.

 

[EatMoTacos]

From what I have been reading on this site and the time I've been on it. It is amazing how much data exist on here. I wouldn't be surprised if there are any "hidden" ENTs and researchers reading these daily post and receiving insight information just from us.

I think researchers and professors in universities understand more about tinnitus than any ENT(no pun but they just don't care or just do not want to deal with it). I am tired of it. Tired of just being pushed and said deal with it.

After watching that TED talk on Professor Josef. He made a clear statement "nature doesn't like gaps", apparently the average human brain can close these gaps even after hearing loss and no T emerges from them. I know so many people with hearing loss and they have been living fine with no T.

Like us, here, we are the ones outside the "normal" pool.