See an Experienced Tinnitus Specialist in San Antonio, TX
Are you hearing ringing, buzzing, or roaring sounds in your ears?
Tinnitus is the presence of a sound that only you can hear. There are many different causes of tinnitus. So, everyone’s experience with tinnitus can be very different!
It is always a good idea to get your tinnitus checked out; especially, if it is occurring suddenly, loudly, bothersome, pulsating, and/or in only one ear.
At Audicles hearing services, we offer tinnitus evaluations with Dr. Crank. Dr. Crank is very passionate about helping you manage your tinnitus. She can help by identifying possible causes, giving you recommendations for management, and providing follow up treatment if Tinnitus Retraining Therapy is recommended for you.
For about 12.5 million Americans, the ringing in their ears never goes away, threatening their quality of life and interrupting their lifestyle. Tinnitus does not cause hearing loss, but it might be a symptom related to the damage to within one’s ears that leads to a loss of hearing.
Is the tinnitus management program at Audicles Hearing Services right for you?
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Does my tinnitus frustrate me in a quiet room?
- Does my tinnitus keep me awake at night?
- Is it hard to focus on tasks because my tinnitus overwhelms me?
If you answered yes to these questions and your tinnitus is getting worse, there is a tinnitus specialist near you in San Antonio, TX who is eager to help you find relief.
Meet Our Tinnitus Specialist
Dr. Abby Crank
Abby grew up in northeast Texas. She finished her undergraduate studies at Texas Tech before continuing her education at the University of Texas at Dallas for her master’s degree.
Working in the medical field has always interested Abby. She grew up with hearing loss and has family members who also have hearing loss, so audiology felt like a natural fit. When she started pursuing her degree, she knew it was the right career decision.
Abby’s daily responsibilities at Audicles include performing hearing assessments, fittings and adjustments, ear cleanings, and anything else she can do to assist her patients with their hearing loss and/or tinnitus. Helping patients enhance their communication with their loved ones and reach their goals by using best practices/patient-centered care is a truly rewarding experience for her.
In her spare time, Abby enjoys indoor wall climbing and baking, but what she loves most is spending time with her wonderful family.
What is Tinnitus?
An individual experiences tinnitus symptoms when sounds, which don’t really exist, are generated somewhere along the auditory pathway or inside the auditory processing center of the brain. The neurological disorder creates sound in a similar manner as the “phantom limb” phenomenon experienced by some amputees.
Each person’s tinnitus symptoms vary. A continuous tone is heard by some, while others experience more of a pulsating sound. Though the perceived sound is often described as ringing, some people describe their tinnitus as whirring, clicking, buzzing, or whooshing sounds.
There are two types of tinnitus: subject and objective. Subjective tinnitus is only heard by the person experiencing the symptoms, but objective tinnitus can be heard by someone else. Objective tinnitus often stems from known vascular or vestibular issues that can be addressed through surgical intervention or other medical therapies.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tinnitus
Q. What causes tinnitus?
A. A specific cause for tinnitus has eluded audiologists, doctors, and researchers, but they have identified several conditions that accompany or produce tinnitus symptoms, such as:
- Hearing loss
- Exposure to loud noise (Noise Induced Hearing Loss, NIHL)
- Head and neck injuries
- Ototoxic drugs
- Meniere’s disease
- Acoustic neuroma
- Hyper/hypothyroidism
- Abnormal growth of bone in the ear
- Tumor on the cranial nerve
- Stress
- Depression
- High blood pressure
- Impacted earwax
Q. How is tinnitus diagnosed?
A. To diagnose your tinnitus, a tinnitus specialist will interview you regarding your case history and medical history, use a questionnaire to help determine the loudness and pitch of your tinnitus, and conduct a Tinnitus Handicap Inventory to evaluate the impact of the condition on your lifestyle and quality of life. Ruling out or confirming hearing loss as a contributing cause requires a comprehensive hearing assessment. Additional testing by an ENT specialist might be called for to identify vascular or vestibular conditions that produce tinnitus symptoms.
Q. What happens if you don't treat tinnitus?
A. Temporary tinnitus, like what you experience after being exposed to loud noise or certain ototoxic drugs, typically disappears within a few hours after the event, but ongoing or chronic tinnitus tends to worsen when not treated.
Q. Can tinnitus be cured?
A. Most tinnitus cases have no defined cause, which means there is no permanent cure. When tinnitus symptoms are related to a specific medical condition, treatment of the condition often reduces or eliminates the symptoms.
Q. Do hearing aids help with tinnitus?
A. The primary purpose for hearing aids is not to treat tinnitus, but to treat the hearing loss that sometimes accompanies tinnitus. Oftentimes, treating the hearing loss decreases the intensity of the condition, making it more manageable. As an added bonus, many of today’s digital hearing aids are able to provide sound masking to further assist with tinnitus management.
Q. Can you relieve tinnitus?
A. Therapeutic techniques and tinnitus treatment technologies that are proven to provide relief for tinnitus, include hearing aids, sound masking, and tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT). Though there are many products that advertise that they are natural remedies for tinnitus, there is inadequate support for their claims.
How Will Hearing Experts Treat My Tinnitus?
Our trusted tinnitus doctors in San Antonio, TX understand your struggle and we’re ready to provide the help you need but finding the right solution to the ringing in your ears can be quite a challenge. Some days, your symptoms may be mild, while on other days they completely disrupt your concentration and make it impossible to relax and/or fall asleep.
Your tinnitus assessment will provide us with enough information to customize a tinnitus management program with solutions that meet your specific needs and objectives. The primary
tinnitus treatment technologies and therapeutic techniques that provide varying levels of relief and are backed by research, include:
- Hearing Aids, which have the dual benefit of correcting hearing loss and masking.
- Sound Maskers and other Tinnitus Treatment Technology to assist in decreasing sound. awareness.
- Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) to help you learn to cope with the condition.
While hearing aids for those with hearing loss and sound masking meet the needs of some, others require a more extensive, holistic therapeutic approach called tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) to lessen the impact of tinnitus on their lifestyle and quality of life.
TRT, sometimes called habituation therapy, involves retraining your brain to perceive the phantom sounds of tinnitus in a different way. Dealing with additional emotional challenges, like depression, stress, or anger that exacerbate your condition and using coping skills is also included in this cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approach.
The objective of our tinnitus doctors in San Antonio is to help you improve your quality of life and your overall well-being by helping you manage health problems, ototoxic medications, and lifestyle choices that have an effect on your symptoms while also making use of sound masking devices and hearing aids when called for.
What to Expect During a Tinnitus Assessment
The groundwork for your tinnitus management program is developed during your first appointment with our tinnitus specialist. During a tinnitus assessment, we are working to zero in on your unique type of tinnitus and its intensity by ruling out various medical causes and hearing loss.
Your tinnitus evaluation will include:
- Questions regarding your condition, any medications you’re taking or medical conditions you might have, recent or ongoing exposure to loud noise, or other factors known to coincide with tinnitus symptoms.
- Your tinnitus doctor will conduct a complete hearing evaluation to determine if your condition is associated with hearing loss.
- We’ll try to determine the loudness and pitch of your symptoms.
- We’ll conduct a Tinnitus Handicap Inventory to learn how tinnitus affects daily life and impacts your lifestyle.
- Your tinnitus specialist will discuss appropriate treatment options with you.
Additional tests by an ENT specialist might be called for in order to rule out suspected vestibular or vascular medical conditions that are known to produce tinnitus symptoms.
Schedule an Audicles Hearing Services Tinnitus Assessment
Our tinnitus specialists in San Antonio, TX are aware that your tinnitus is unique, affecting you in a different way than it might affect someone else, which is why our personalized approach to tinnitus management provides you with the best solutions to meet your specific needs and improve your quality of life.
If you struggle to stay focused on a task, find it hard to relax, or have trouble falling asleep because of the ringing in your ears, take the first step to finding relief by scheduling a tinnitus assessment at our Audicles Hearing Services clinic.
Just complete and submit the adjacent form for additional answers about tinnitus or to schedule a tinnitus assessment with one of our tinnitus doctors in San Antonio, TX.
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Patient Stories
“Before my visit to Audicles, I wasn’t sure if I could afford hearing aids”
I was in the car with my husband, son, and two young granddaughters. Everyone was engaged in an obviously fun and spirited conversation. Although I could hear they were speaking, I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I felt sad and left out of the conversation. I realised was up to ME to do something to change things.
- Marlene P.
“You will be treated as a human, not a patient”
My parents noticed my hearing loss when I was younger. I was 3 years old and my mom would be brushing my hair and talking to me, and I would say, ‘Mom, wait, I can’t hear you. Let me turn around so I can see you!
– Lauren B.
“We often go to them feeling hopeless, and we return home feeling hopeful”
I became concerned about my hearing when my wife would ask me a question and then raised her voice asking why did I not answer her. My reaction was, ‘What question?
– Lee and Moon F.
“It doesn’t make you old. It doesn’t make you broken. It will change the way you live life“
I’ve always had bad hearing since I was a kid. But I noticed how bad it had gotten with the pandemic and wearing masks and realizing I was just good at lip reading. I work in customer service. So I felt it was affecting my job and needed to do something about it.
– Bryanna K.