Ringing, buzzing, humming, hissing — tinnitus affects more than 50 million adults in the United States. It's real, it's measurable in its impact on your life, and for the great majority of people, it's highly manageable. Our job is to figure out what you're hearing, why, and how to help.
Tinnitus is the perception of sound — a tone, a hum, a hiss, a ring — without an external source producing it. It isn't a disease in itself. It's a symptom, usually of an underlying change in your auditory system, most often hearing loss.
For the vast majority of people, tinnitus is subjective — only you can hear it. In rare cases it's objective, meaning it can actually be measured — and that usually points toward a vascular or muscular cause a physician should investigate.
The sound can be constant or come and go. It can live in one ear, both ears, or seem to originate somewhere inside your head. It can be barely noticeable one day and consuming the next. Every version is worth taking seriously.
There is no single "tinnitus sound." Recognizing your version helps us understand what may be behind it and how to help.
The most common. A sustained high tone — often described as "a hearing test that never stops."
An insect-like drone. Sometimes steady, sometimes fluctuating with a distinctly organic feel.
A deeper background sound — often described as electrical, mechanical, or "like a refrigerator running."
A whooshing, TV-static-like sound. Often described as broadband — no clear pitch.
A rushing sound, like standing near a distant highway. Sometimes associated with Meniere's disease.
A sound that pulses in rhythm with your heartbeat. This one needs a physician's evaluation.
High-pitched and tonal, often intermittent. Comes and goes at random times of day.
Rare but real. Sometimes described as fragments of music, notes, or melodies that seem to play.
Tinnitus is a symptom, not a diagnosis. Finding the cause — or ruling causes out — is the first step in treating it well.
By far the most common cause. When high-frequency hearing declines, the auditory system often generates phantom sound in those exact frequencies.
Occupational (construction, aviation, military), recreational (concerts, firearms, motorcycles), or a single traumatic loud event.
Presbycusis — the gradual hearing decline that comes with age — is very frequently accompanied by tinnitus.
Sometimes the entire cause. Impacted wax can trigger tinnitus that resolves completely once the wax is properly removed.
Some antibiotics, chemotherapy agents, high-dose aspirin, certain diuretics, and quinine can cause or worsen tinnitus. Talk to your doctor before changing anything.
Middle ear fluid, sinus congestion, or infection can produce temporary tinnitus that resolves as the underlying condition clears.
The jaw joint sits directly next to the ear. Jaw disorders, teeth grinding, and neck injuries can all produce tinnitus.
Especially with pulsatile tinnitus. High blood pressure, atherosclerosis, and other vascular changes can create sound perceptible to you.
Concussions, whiplash, and other trauma can trigger tinnitus — sometimes weeks or months after the event.
An inner-ear condition combining tinnitus with vertigo, hearing fluctuation, and ear fullness. Requires an ENT evaluation.
Neither causes tinnitus, but both powerfully affect how much you notice it. Managing them changes the experience.
In some cases we never identify a single trigger. That's still okay — we can effectively manage tinnitus without knowing its exact origin.
Most tinnitus is not a sign of a serious medical problem — but some patterns should be evaluated by a physician (usually an ENT) before a hearing aid consultation. If any of these describe your experience, we'll help you get to the right specialist first.
A complete picture, not a guess. Every consultation follows the same careful sequence.
What it sounds like, when it started, when it's worst, how it affects your sleep, work, mood, and life. We use a validated tinnitus impact questionnaire so we can track your progress over time.
Tinnitus and hearing loss are so closely linked that we always test hearing first. Often, treating the hearing loss meaningfully reduces the tinnitus.
Loudness matching, pitch matching, and minimum masking level. We characterize the specific sound you're hearing so we can select the right therapy for it.
We rule out the simple, reversible causes — impacted wax, eardrum issues, infection — before assuming the tinnitus needs long-term management.
If anything in your history or exam calls for a physician's involvement, we help you get to the right doctor before we go further.
Realistic options, clear expectations, and a plan we build with you, not for you. You leave knowing exactly what comes next.
When tinnitus co-exists with any degree of hearing loss — which is true for the vast majority of tinnitus patients — well-fitted hearing aids alone often provide significant relief. Here's the mechanism.
Your tinnitus stands out most in silence. Hearing aids bring the sounds of the world back — conversation, footsteps, kitchen sounds, birdsong — and your tinnitus becomes relatively less noticeable next to them.
Emerging research suggests that when the auditory brain receives adequate sound input from the environment, its tendency to generate compensatory "phantom" sound is reduced. Less demand for the phantom means less phantom.
Every major brand — Oticon, Phonak, ReSound, Signia, Starkey, Widex, Unitron, Philips — now builds tinnitus sound therapy directly into their premium hearing aids. Fractal tones, notched noise, adjustable sound generators.
Rather than wearing separate hearing aids and separate maskers, a single modern device does both jobs at once — controllable from your phone, adjustable to your environment, invisible to everyone else.
of patients with combined tinnitus and hearing loss report meaningful improvement with well-fitted hearing aids alone — often within the first weeks of consistent wear.
Sometimes the answer is more sound, not less. Tinnitus maskers and sound therapy play carefully-selected sounds that reduce the perceived intensity of your tinnitus — and over time, help your brain habituate to it.
Broadband noise that fills the acoustic space around your tinnitus. Different colors of noise suit different patients — we help you find yours.
Musical, gentle, non-repeating chimes designed to relax the nervous system while reducing tinnitus awareness. Found in most premium hearing aids.
Noise or music with your specific tinnitus frequency removed — a targeted approach with growing evidence for tonal tinnitus.
Soothing environmental audio often preferred for evening use and sleep. Available through many hearing aid apps and dedicated devices.
Modern hearing aids that provide amplification and tinnitus therapy simultaneously — one device, one battery, one seamless experience.
For sleep, when hearing aids aren't being worn. Simple, effective, and often life-changing for patients whose tinnitus is worst at night.
Persistent tinnitus affects sleep, focus, mood, and relationships. Managing it well often means working on more than just what's happening in your ears.
The most-researched psychological approach to tinnitus. Changes your brain's response to it over time. We refer to licensed mental-health professionals experienced with tinnitus.
Consistent bedtimes, cool bedrooms, minimized screen time before bed. A well-rested nervous system perceives tinnitus as quieter.
Meditation, breathwork, regular exercise. Stress amplifies tinnitus perception; managing it reduces the perceived volume — often significantly.
Preventing further hearing damage prevents further tinnitus. Custom musician-grade earplugs and noise-attenuating hearing protection available.
For some patients, caffeine, alcohol, salt, or specific foods affect tinnitus intensity. We help you notice patterns and identify your triggers.
The American Tinnitus Association maintains a directory of support groups. Talking with others who genuinely understand can be transformative.
There is currently no cure for most subjective tinnitus. What we offer is management. And for the great majority of patients, well-planned management transforms a life-consuming problem into a manageable one — often within weeks of starting, sometimes to the point where patients tell us they forget they ever had it.
We won't promise you silence. What we will promise is that we know how to help, that we take your experience seriously, and that we will never tell you to just live with it.
Usually no. For most people, tinnitus reflects a benign change in the auditory system — most often related to hearing loss. However, certain patterns (see the red-flag section above) warrant a physician's evaluation first. When in doubt, we help you find out.
Sometimes yes — especially if it's caused by earwax, a middle-ear infection, or a medication that can be changed. If tinnitus has persisted longer than about six months, however, it typically becomes chronic. Chronic tinnitus is very manageable, but rarely disappears without active management.
No — but the overwhelming majority of tinnitus patients do have some degree of hearing loss, sometimes so mild they never noticed it. That's part of why a full hearing evaluation is where we start.
Apps can help, particularly for sleep and short-term relief. But an app can't deliver the constant, personalized, all-day sound therapy that hearing aids provide — and it can't address the underlying hearing loss that often drives the tinnitus in the first place.
Many patients experience meaningful relief within days of starting a well-planned program, particularly if hearing aids are part of it. Full habituation — the point at which you rarely notice the tinnitus — takes longer, usually weeks to months of consistent management.
Your tinnitus consultation is complimentary as part of your comprehensive hearing evaluation. If you're already a Sunrise patient, there is no additional charge — tinnitus care is part of the ongoing relationship.
There is currently no FDA-approved medication specifically for the treatment of tinnitus. Some medications used off-label for related conditions (anxiety, sleep) may help indirectly. Always talk to a physician before starting or changing any medication.
A complete tinnitus consultation, a real explanation of what you're hearing, and a plan to make it better. No obligation, and no one telling you to just cope.
