Folks who attended the Tinnitus Support Group Club on Thursday walked away with a lot of good information. The featured speakers for the meeting were Doctor of Audiology Paige Holt and Sandra Robertson of CapTel.
Holt is with Lake ENT & FPS on U.S. Hwy. 27/441. Her talk included ways to deal with Tinnitus, a condition she is very familiar as she has had Tinnitus since childhood. Most people are older when diagnosed with Tinnitus. The noises associated with Tinnitus come from the brain. As a person’s ability to hear exterior noises diminishes, the sounds from the brain become more noticeable.
Holt also gave tips for people living with someone who has a hearing loss. Call the person’s name before you start speaking, to make sure you have their attention. Always be looking at the person when speaking. Speaking loudly is not the answer. When a person raises their voice it adversely affects the hearing aids and actually muffles the sound. Another important point is to reword your statement. If after a couple of times, the person cannot hear you, word the statement in a different way.
“Something about the order of the sounds is not working for the hearing impaired person,” said Holt. “Change up the wording and the different sounds may help the person to hear you.”
A lot of people with Tinnitus are told to learn to live with it.
“There is some truth to that,” said Holt. “Although maybe not in the way the doctors mean it when they say it.”
Lifestyle changes can help immensely in coping with Tinnitus. Stress and anxiety are triggers, as is caffeine and some medications.
Setting a noise machine to a low level helps diffuse the Tinnitus, making reading and falling asleep easier. Cognitive therapy, using a counselor to coach people through the process, is also a recommendation.
Hearing–aids are also a big part of treatment. Many hearing aids are equipped with Tinnitus masking programs. Holt cautions that it is advisable to get these programmed by a professional with experience dealing with Tinnitus.
There are other options to help deal with Tinnitus. Holt says the first and main thing is to decide you are going to deal with it.
“Tinnitus isn’t going to kill you. Don’t let it be the focus of your life. You have to learn how to live with it and that is different things for different people.”
CapTel Outreach Representative Sandra Robertson talked about one of the devices making life easier for those with Tinnitus and hearing loss. Captioned telephones are available free of charge through the ADA. A required form is filled out by your doctor and then Robertson comes to your home to set up the phone. The phones have a screen that captions the phone call; it also saves the call for reference. Answering machines are available allowing you to see those messages in caption. If you would like more information on receiving one of these phones, contact Sandra Robertson at Sandra.robertson@oeius.org or (407) 443-9409.
The Tinnitus Support Group Club meets the fourth Thursday at 3:30 pm at Churchill Street Recreation Center. Sal Gentile is the contact for this group, he can be reached tvtinnitus@gmail.com or (813)503-1421.
