WHAT IT IS & HOW TO TREAT IT Tinnitus – that annoying noise in your ears. it can be treated – you do not have to suffer anymore.

A Presentation by

Dr. Harriet Jacobster

ASHA CERTIFIED DOCTOR OF AUDIOLOGY AND

Lyric Audiology

WHEN

Wed. June 20th 2pm – 4pm WHERE

1200 SR 208, #6 Monroe, NY 845-395-0300

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS

FREE PLEASE RSVP AS SPACE IS LIMITED 845-395-0300 Light refreshments served For more information, contact:

Lyric Audiology 1200 State Route 208 Monroe, NY 10950 845-395-0300 hearingarts@aol.com www.lyricaudiology.com Dr. Jacobster is a world-renowned and award-winning Doctor of Audiology with over 30 years of experience treating patients with hearing loss and tinnitus. She was trained in Tinnitus Retraining Therapy and has successfully treated tinnitus patients for over 10 years.

TINNITUS FAQs What affect does tinnitus have on someone’s lifestyle? Affects range from barely noticing it to severe debilitation, anxiety, depression, even thoughts of suicide. Usually, tinnitus interferes with concentration, communication, and sleep. What role does depression play in tinnitus? Although depression does not necessarily “cause” tinnitus, it can exaggerate your reaction to it. You begin to perceive the tinnitus as worsening and that can add to depression. Tinnitus severity is a very personal and subjective thing. Are there different types of tinnitus? Tinnitus is divided into Subjective and Objective. Most people experience Subjective Tinnitus, that is only heard by the person. It can be ringing, buzzing, crickets, humming, in one or both ears, constant or occasional. Objective tinnitus can be heard by someone else, such as a doctor. This tinnitus is usually pulsatile – like a heartbeat – and usually caused by a circulatory problem. It can also be a clicking sound caused by muscular contractions or the cracking of the jaw. Some tinnitus can even be caused by certain head movements. If someone thinks they have tinnitus, what should they do? The first thing they should do is talk to their physician. Tinnitus should not be ignored. Remember, tinnitus is a SYMPTOM, not a disease, so a medically treatable cause must be rule out first. Unfortunately, most physicians don’t know much about tinnitus and will usually just brush you off and tell you to just live with it. Next step should be to see an audiologist who specializes in tinnitus, who can take a complete history and do a complete audiological and tinnitus evaluation. You will consult other medical professionals as well, such as an otolaryngologist, possibly a neurologist, or even a psychologist or psychiatrist.

Are there any other hearing problems that accompany tinnitus? Yes, very often people with tinnitus are sensitive to certain sounds, claim that sounds “hurt” their ear, or that normal sounds are unbearably loud. Others complain that they avoid certain sounds because they elicit such a negative response, such as fear, pain, etc. Hyperacusis is defined as a collapsed tolerance to normal environmental sounds such as a baby crying or turning the pages of a newspaper. Misophonia is an actual hatred of certain sounds, like eating crunchy food, because of the intense emotional response.

Is there any way to prevent tinnitus? Since the leading cause of tinnitus is hearing loss, the best thing to do is take care of your hearing. Avoid noise, keep healthy, try to avoid or limit certain medications, exercise, avoid or limit stress.

Harriet Jacobster, Au.D., is an ASHA Certified Doctor of Audiology with 30 years of experience working with various groups in diagnostics, hearing aid and rehabilitation services. She earned her Doctor of

Audiology from Nova Southeastern University, Florida, with a specialty in advanced diagnostic techniques. She is also an accomplished musician. Dr. Jacobster has been on the faculties of several colleges and hospitals as well as on the Board of Directors of the Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss. She was a nominee to the Board of Governors of the American Board of Audiology and was co-chair of the Fundraising Committee for the Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Loss. She served on the Membership and Professional Compliance Committees of the American Academy of Audiology, was Chair of the Resume Review Committee and was a Professional Advisor to the Westchester Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America. She is currently part of the American Tinnitus Association’ Professional Support Network She is also a regular contributor to several publications in Orange County NY and has been featured on AllExperts.com and in the ATA Magazine. LYRIC AUDIOLOGY IS A PROUD W INNER OF THE 2017 RE ADERS ’ CHOICE AW ARD

Lyric Audiology

1200 State Route 208, Suite 6 Monroe, NY 10950

(845) 395-0300

e-mail: hearingarts@aol.com

LyricAudiology

Bringing words and music to your ears

TINNITUS

Monroe NY 10950

(845) 395-0300

hearingarts@aol.com www.lyricaudiology.com

Tinnitus refers to any noise or sound in

your ear when no other sound is present.

Tinnitus can sound like ringing, hissing, roaring, pulsing, whooshing, chirping, whistling, or clicking.

Tinnitus can occur in one ear or both ears. Almost everyone at one time or another has experienced brief periods of mild ringing or other sounds in the ear. Some people have more annoying and constant types of tinnitus. One third of all adults experience tinnitus at some time in their lives.

About 50 million adults have tinnitus and about 16 million have it bad enough to seek medical help. The exact cause of tinnitus is often not known. One thing is certain: Tinnitus is not imaginary.

What should I do if I have Tinnitus? Since tinnitus is a symptom of a problem, the first thing you should do is to try to find out the underlying cause. You should have a medical examination with special attention given to checking factors associated with tinnitus. A full hearing evaluation can identify hearing loss that may be associated with the tinnitus. There are many possible causes of tinnitus, such as:

Impacted wax (external ear) Ear infection Middle ear tumors Meniere's Disease Otosclerosis Vascular (circulation) problem Ototoxic medicines (more than 200

medicines can cause tinnitus) Noise-induced hearing loss (inner ear) At the central level—the eighth cranial

(auditory) nerve and other tumors, migraine, and epilepsy

Head injury Brain tumor Diabetes

THE TINNITUS EVALUATION Tinnitus

cannot be measured objectively. Rather, the audiologist relies on information you provide in describing the tinnitus.

In the first part of the tinnitus evaluation, you will be given several questionnaires to complete. You will be asked questions like:

- When did you first notice your tinnitus:

- Which ear is involved? Right? Left? Both?

- Is the ringing constant? Do you notice it more at certain times of the day?

- Can you describe the sound or the ringing?

- Does the sound have a pitch to it? High pitch? Low pitch?

- How loud does it seem? Does it seem loud or soft?

- Does the sound change or fluctuate?

- Do you notice conditions that make the tinnitus worse, e.g., when

- Does the tinnitus affect your sleep? Your work? Your ability to concentrate?

- How annoying is it?

In discussing your answers to these questions, the audiologist can give you information that will increase understanding of your tinnitus. Understanding what is happening is often relief.

During the evaluation, you will also be tested for Sound Sensitivity disorders, such as Hyperacusis (oversensitivity to normal sounds) or Misophonia (dislike of certain sounds) as these often accompany tinnitus.

Lyric Audiology 1200 State Route 208, Suite 6

Monroe, NY 10950 (845) 395-0300

e-mail: hearingarts@aol.com

TINNITUS THERAPY Currently, there is no cure

for most types of tinnitus. The goal of treatment is to manage our tinnitus and enable you to habituate so that you are not aware of your tinnitus and it no longer has a negative impact on your life. The most effective way to manage tinnitus is through TINNITUS RETRAINING THERAPY (TRT) which is a combination of some type of sound therapy and retraining counseling.

Sound Therapy aims at facilitating habituation at an unconscious level by decreasing the sound of the signal. By adding sound either at ear level or with desktop sound generators, the difference between the tinnitus signal and the background sound is decreased. Hearing aids are the most used type of sound generators especially in those with hearing loss.

Retraining Counseling in TRT is based on treating a patient's emotional reaction to tinnitus rather than the tinnitus itself. The goal is to help the patient to think of their tinnitus as a neutral sound and eliminate negative reactions. This is accomplished by showing the patient that the tinnitus is not associated with a threatening pathology.

Stress Management Stress is known to add to the annoyance of tinnitus. By managing stress through relaxation and meditation techniques, the effects of tinnitus are lessened.

There are other forms of therapy; however, none yet has proven as successful as TRT.

The Evaluation and Treatment of Tinnitus is best done with a team approach. Various professionals – physicians, audiologists, psychologists, nutritionists, neurologists, to name a few, – all play an important role in helping the tinnitus patient.

Our Goal…

IMPROVE YOUR QUALITY OF

LIFE WITH A COMPLETE PLAN OF HEARING

HEALTHCARE

♪ Complete audiological evaluations

♪ Tinnitus Evaluations and Treatment

♪ Specialized treatment plans

♪ Scheduled follow-up visits

♪ Aural rehabilitation programs

♪ Auditory processing evaluations

♪ Counseling for family members

♪ Extensive line of hearing instruments

♪ Assistive listening devices for home or office

Harriet Jacobster, Au.D., is an ASHA Certified Doctor of Audiology with 30 years of experience working with various groups in diagnostics, hearing aid and rehabilitation services.

She earned her Doctor of Audiology from Nova Southeastern University, Florida, with a specialty in advanced diagnostic techniques. She is also an accomplished musician. Dr. Jacobster has served on the faculties of several colleges and hospitals as well as on the Board of Directors of the Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss. She was a nominee to the Board of Governors of the American Board of Audiology and was co-chair of the Fundraising Committee for the Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Loss. She served on the Membership and Professional Compliance Committees of the American Academy of Audiology, was Chair of the Resume Review Committee and was a Professional Advisor to the Westchester Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America. She is also a regular contributor to several publications in Orange County NY, and has been featured on AllExperts.com.

Lyric Audiology

1200 State Route 208, Suite 6 Monroe, NY 10950

(845) 395-0300

e-mail: hearingarts@aol.com

LyricAudiology

Bringing words and music to your ears

Complete Audiology,

Tinnitus, and

Hearing Aid Services

Monroe NY 10950 (845) 395-0300

hearingarts@aol.com www.lyricaudiology.com

How often should adults have an

Audiologic screening? Hearing screening should continue

through adulthood at least once every decade through age 50 and annually

thereafter. If adults have any risk factors, particularly occupational or recreational noise exposure, they

should be screened as needed. The earlier a hearing loss can be detected,

the easier it is to treat and prevent other problems.

Risk factors for hearing loss:

♪ Drugs or medications

♪ Viral or bacterial infections

♪ Noise exposure

♪ Natural aging process

♪ Heredity

♪ Traumatic brain injury

♪ Stroke

♪ Head injury

♪ Brain tumor

♪ Diabetes

Some Signs of a Hearing Loss:

♪ You hear people speaking but do not understand the words.

♪ You frequently ask people to repeat what they said.

♪ You do not laugh at jokes because you miss too much of the story or the punch line.

♪ You frequently complain that people mumble.

♪ You play the TV or radio louder than your friends, spouse or relatives.

♪ You cannot hear the doorbell or the telephone.

Untreated hearing loss can

♪ Cause social isolation

♪ Cause or worsen emotional disorders

♪ Strain personal relationships

♪ Be taken for inattentiveness, memory disorders and mental slowness

♪ Contribute to early cognitive decline

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Lyric Audiology 1200 State Route 208, Suite 6

Monroe, NY 10950 (845) 395-0300

e-mail: hearingarts@aol.com