The Hearing Therapy Tinnitus service at the Leicester Royal Infirmary provides information, counselling and advice about tinnitus and strategies available that can be used to manage tinnitus to make the tinnitus sounds less intrusive.
What do tinnitus appointments involve?
Your first appointment will involve finding out more about the nature of your tinnitus and explore the feelings and difficulties is may be causing you. This appointment will usually be up to one hour.
What help is available for tinnitus?
Although there is no known medical cure for tinnitus there is a lot that can be done to help you manage it. No two people with tinnitus are the same and therefore an individual programme of management will be agreed between you and your therapist and may include one or more of the following:
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Counselling and the sharing of information - Understanding more about tinnitus and how the brain responds is the first step in managing tinnitus
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Sound Enrichment - Environmental sounds such as radios, personal listening devices and television can help with the learning to focus away from tinnitus and aid with the process of teaching the brain to filter out the unwanted sounds of the tinnitus. Passive sounds such as the comforting sound of nature can be a helpful form of sound enrichment and can help greatly at times of relaxation and sleep.
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Relaxation - Good relaxation skills can be helpful in reducing levels of anxiety or stress. Tinnitus specific Relaxation Therapy can be taught individually or more usually in small groups. Each weekly session will teach a different technique and each session will last 1.5 hours.
