Tinnitus treatment has proved to be difficult for the medical community
. Tinnitus or ringing in the ears has many different types and at present there are no diagnostic measures that can separate individuals with the different type. For example tinnitus is a very personal experience and it is therefore hard for sufferers to objectify how loud and how bothersome the disorder is for themselves. This has made the testing of possible treatments available very difficult and this is the major obstacle in determining possible tinnitus treatments.
Types of therapy being investigated are tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) and other types of therapy that combine counseling with sound stimulation, use of surgical treatment, stimulation of the hearing apparatus with a cochlear implant and stimulation of the auditory area of the brain are starting to be used in some advanced clinics.
Many drugs and medications have been tried for treatment of tinnitus or ear ringing. Most are applied based on the theory that some loss of inhibition or control of sound has happened to result in the tinnitus. Therefore most the commonly used medications are aimed at increasing the inhibition in the nervous system to decreased the ringing in the ears. Medications used includes benzodiazepines, baclofen and the commonly prescribed anti-depressants or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Unfortunately most medications have demonstrated poor results in treating or providing relief from tinnitus or ear ringing.
Many sufferers after coming up empty handed with conventional medicine have sought alternative approaches. There are a wide variety of alternative tinnitus treatment ranging from therapies such as acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, naturopathy to various herbal remedies, nutritional supplements and dietary changes. For some individuals tinnitus can be a complex disorder and the main priority with any chosen tinnitus treatment should be to address the root cause of the problem and not just mask the symptoms.