Tinnitus Evaluation & Treatment

The Tinnitus Evaluation includes:

  • Comprehensive Case History
  • Complete Hearing Evaluation

Complete Hearing Evaluation

  1. Otoscopy: The visual examination of the inner ear using a handheld otoscope or using a Video Otoscope which can display a picture of your ear on a monitor.
  2. Middle Ear (Immittance Testing): Testing of the eardrum, the middle ear and the acoustic reflex. These measurements help identify the presence of perforations of the eardrum, excessive cerumen (earwax) and possible medical conditions that require referral to a physician.
  3. Air Conduction Testing: Hearing testing completed using calibrated insert earphones in a sound treated test room. This is the basic test that tells how loud sounds need to be for you to be able to hear them. Bone Conduction Testing: Hearing testing completed using a calibrated bone vibrator which delivers a signal to the inner ear through vibrations.  This test helps determine what kind of hearing loss you have.
  4. Speech testing including Speech in Noise testing: Speech measurements involve determining how quietly a patient can identify two syllable words (the “Speech Reception Threshold”) and how well a patient can understand speech at a comfortably loud level (“Word Recognition Testing”).

Detailed Tinnitus Evaluation

This evaluation includes our review and discussion of your completed Tinnitus Reaction Questionnaire (TRQ) and/or your Tinnitus Handicap Awareness Form to evaluate your subjective assessment of the tinnitus and its affects on your daily life. We also evaluate the objective level of your tinnitus to determine the frequency and volume of the tinnitus noise you are experiencing.

Referral to other health care providers as indicated.

Tinnitus Treatment Options

Tinnitus is the sensation of a sound, not audible to others, often described as a continual ringing, buzzing or whistling in the head or ear(s). Tinnitus can be a debilitating and devastating condition that can affect your life in dramatic ways. There is help! It is usually due to a very minor disorder of the hearing system, sometimes associated with aging and/or noise exposure. Slight changes in the system may be sensed as tinnitus. While there is no “cure” for tinnitus almost everyone can learn to manage their tinnitus symptom.

O’Connor Hearing Center provides comprehensive evaluation and counseling, as well as offering the tools and management techniques to help you manage your tinnitus.

Those tools may include behavioral adaptations, and/or an environmental sound therapy machine/ bedside or pillow masker, or ear level instruments, such as hearing aids with special masking tinnitus programs custom designed for your specific tinnitus management care needs. 

Please see our Tinnitus Management & Treatment page for more information.