Beverly Hills Hearing Center was founded in 1983 by Bonnie Baehr. Prior to that, Dr. Baehr practiced at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles as a staff audiologist for seven years. She was involved with diagnostic testing, hearing aid evaluations, research and rehabilitation. Dr. Baehr did her clinical fellowship training at the Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic in downtown Los Angeles. She is a member of the American Academy of Audiology, American Speech Language and Hearing Association, California Academy of Audiology and Academy of Doctors of Audiology.
Latest posts by Bonnie L. Baehr, Au.D. (see all)
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The medical term for ringing in the ears is tinnitus. This is a condition for which there is no known cure. There’s no doubt that having tinnitus for a long time can be annoying. If your ears keep ringing, it can take over your thoughts and make concentrating hard.
Even though there is no cure for tinnitus, there are ways to deal with the condition and make it less noticeable in your mind. Believe it or not, many people with tinnitus are turning to meditation techniques to get relief from their symptoms.
Recognizing Tinnitus
Tinnitus is a problem with the hearing system that makes the brain hear sounds where there are none. Many things can cause tinnitus, most of which is damage or blockages in the auditory system. Sounds like buzzing and clicking can also be a sign of tinnitus.
If you have trouble hearing, tinnitus may be incredibly annoying for you. Sounds might be muffled or quieter, but tinnitus noise might be the loudest and clearest sound you hear. Once you know you have tinnitus, the best thing to do is get treatment to help you deal with it.
Mindfulness meditation
Mindfulness meditation aims to help you notice and accept the changes in your body and mind. There are a lot of resources online to help you get started with mindfulness meditation.
To start, you all need a quiet place to sit. You then let the feelings in your body come and go. This means you shouldn’t scratch an itch or move your seat and shouldn’t let your mind get stuck on one thought. At first, people with tinnitus may feel like they must move or listen to other sounds to get rid of their ringing ears. But with time and practice, this meditation can help you rest with your tinnitus, seeing it for what it is and letting go of the stress that tinnitus causes in your body.
People often say that you should meditate with your eyes closed, but many who have tinnitus say that you should start with your eyes open. Visual observation can help make tinnitus sounds less noticeable and make you feel more at ease during the process. By ignoring the sounds of tinnitus and even giving in to them, your body can better deal with how annoying they are.
Many people with tinnitus have found that mindfulness meditation, even though it can be hard at first, changes how tinnitus affects their lives and helps them better control their hearing. Some groups, like the British Tinnitus Foundation, have even made mindfulness programs that help people deal with tinnitus.
Guided meditation
Guided meditation is another type of meditation. During this type of meditation, you are led by words and sounds that help you focus on different parts of your life and experiences. Guided meditation can help you focus on a sure thing or goal and directly reinforce new ways of thinking and planning.
People with tinnitus often find comfort in guided meditation, which helps them change their thoughts and focus. Guided meditation can give you more cues and reminders to help you stop focusing on annoying sounds or thought patterns that get in the way.
A guided meditation path can also help your body find ways to rest and relax that you can use in everyday situations that make you feel stressed. Using relaxing sounds to go along with your meditation may be the most comfortable way to do it, just like working with white noise patterns to stop the ringing in your ears.
Other ways to treat tinnitus
You must often try different things to determine what helps your tinnitus the most. Meditation can help relieve stress and calm your mind, making it easier to deal with tinnitus. This may help you deal with tinnitus on its own, or it may be one of several things you do.
One of the most common ways to deal with tinnitus is to use a sound generator to distract yourself from it. Many hearing aids come with white noise sounds, simple harmonic tones, and customizable sound palettes that you can use to make your sound relief from tinnitus. No matter what you do, you can find what helps you deal with tinnitus and get through the day with a little trial and error.
Hearing loss is often the cause of tinnitus. Contact us today to learn more and set up a meeting and hearing test.