subject: Tinnitus Cure Information - Are Your Child's Ears Ringing? [print this page] Is your child suffering from tinnitus? Does he or she complain about a distinctive ringing sound in his or her ears even when the space around you is totally quiet? Does he or she hear clicks or even roars when no sources of such sounds are around? Don't despair. Here are some tinnitus and tinnitus cure information for you and your child.
You're not Alone
The American Tinnitus Association estimates that this condition afflicts about 50 million Americans! Around 12 million of those sufferers actually need medical help because the condition has become so severe. According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology (AAO), children are as likely to be affected as adults but may have difficulty reporting their symptoms.
Growing Pains
The AAO gives some good news. Most of the time children can actually outgrow the ringing. However, there are cases of children carrying their noisy burden all the way to adulthood, sometimes affecting their mental and social development.
What to do?
The first step you should take if you suspect your child is suffering from tinnitus is to consult a pediatrician. You may have to get a referral to an ENT or an Ear Nose Throat doctor if your child's ears are found to be healthy yet the symptoms still persist.
Cures
The problem with tinnitus is that it can be difficult to pinpoint what is actually causing it, making a sure-fire, one-shot cure impossible. However, there are steps that you can take to help out your child:
- Reassurance: Give your child a good explanation about the condition. Ask your physician to help. Children can deal with it better if they know more about the condition.
- Damage control: Explain to your child that he can learn to manage the problem. Sometimes positive messages like this accompanied by proper explanation can help our brain cope with the distress better.
- Back ground noise: This can help your child's brain adapt to the situation of having extra auditory input. Try using a fan or quiet music.
- Hearing-Aids: If the condition gets so bad that your child can no longer hear, hearing aids can help. The brain sometimes can't hear things above the noise but with a hearing aid the brain gets some help picking out the auditory inputs that it needs. Eventually, the brain can learn to filter out the tinnitus noises and your child will begin to hear again
