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FAQs about tinnitus retraining therapy

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Whether you have just started to deal with symptoms related to tinnitus or have struggled with the ringing in your ears for years, it is possible that you have never tried or even heard of some of the most common ways that people try to treat or cure the illness.

Some of the most common treatments include hearing aids, medication, sound therapy and more.

One of the other common ways to treat tinnitus is known as Tinnitus Retraining Therapy. If you are curious about what Tinnitus Retraining Therapy is and how it can help cure tinnitus, then you have absolutely come to the right place. In order to help you learn about the process, let’s go over some of the most frequently asked questions and the corresponding answers.

What does tinnitus retraining therapy mean?

TRT is the process in which trained professionals retrain a patient’s subconscious part of their brain in order to ignore the sounds related to tinnitus. Ultimately, the goal is to train the brain to the point where the patient is no longer annoyed by the ringing sounds.

Is TRT a form of psychotherapy, cognitive therapy or biofeedback?

The simple answer to this question is no to all three. A major aspect of TRT is to teach the patient the extensive information regarding the function and structures of the auditory pathways and how this information impacts tinnitus. A large amount of time is spent actually explaining the habituation model and how retraining therapy helps to reduce the annoyance connected to tinnitus itself. Learning about how tinnitus works is a key aspect to TRT overall.

Is sound therapy a part of TRT?

One of the more common ways that people try to treat tinnitus is through sound therapy. What this basically means is using sounds to cover over the ringing sounds of tinnitus. However, TRT only uses low levels of sound therapy. The major difference here is that TRT does not use other sounds to try to mask tinnitus, but instead it uses other sounds for the purpose of helping bring about changes in the lower levels of the patient’s brain and auditory system. It reduces the contrast between the tinnitus sound and complete silence, which can in turn make it harder for the train to notice or “keep track” of the sound related to tinnitus.

What do the hearing devices look like?

The hearing devices related to TRT look a lot like behind-the-ear hearing aids. They are known as “sound generators” and do not interfere with normal sounds and conversations. This means that they can help treat tinnitus while the patient is doing everyday tasks such as talking on the phone, working, shopping and more!

Will the devices help treat me without the therapy?

You may think that purchasing the sound generators alone will help you treat your tinnitus. The truth is that most of the work is done with directive counseling and that is the very best way to use TRT to help treat your tinnitus.

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