Tinnitus Retraining Therapy
Tinnitus retraining therapy, otherwise known as TRT, assists people who suffer from tinnitus. Tinnitus is the medical term for constant and prolonged ringing in the ears. It is suffered by over 17 million people in the US alone, and many more millions around the world.
Tinnitus retraining therapy is an effective form of treatment for tinnitus, for which there is no known cure for as yet. Tinnitus retraining therapy trains or forms a habit in a person through the form of counseling. The counseling focuses on training a tinnitus sufferer to filter out the sound of tinnitus on a subconscious level. This is meant to stop the sound from reaching a conscious level, whereby the person becomes irritated by it.
The goal of tinnitus retraining therapy is to cease the patients’ perception of the tinnitus sound. Tinnitus retraining therapy requires concentration and discipline; however is an excellent form of treatment if undertaken with determination and the right state of mind.
Tinnitus retraining therapy is a brain training therapy. It is very psychological and in some ways is a leading form of medicine in that it involves changing thinking patterns on a subconscious level - something seen very rarely in medical treatment of any condition.
Tinnitus retraining therapy relies on the brains natural ability to habituate a sound. When a sound is habituated, we do not notice it. The brain requires no effort to ignore this sound. This can be seen everyday when we pay no attention to sounds such as humming computers, air conditioners and refrigerators. The goal of tinnitus retraining therapy is to make tinnitus interpreted by the brain in the same way that an air conditioner or computer noise is.
It is hoped that after significant tinnitus retraining therapy that the brain will place much less emphasis on the sound of tinnitus, leading to desensitivity of the sound in patients.