The Science of Healthy Hearing Podcast

9 February 2022

Understanding The Ringing In My Ears: Tinnitus

In this episode, Qualified Audiologist & tinnitus specialist Sasha Benatar helps us understand this common condition. What it is, what causes it and how can it be treated?

In this episode, you will learn

1:10 | Overview of tinnitus

2:30 | Is it curable?

3:06 | What causes tinnitus?

5:50 | How do people experience tinnitus?

7.28 | Non-invasive tinnitus, versus those for whom their tinnitus is impacting their quality of life

10.00 | Do you just have to “live with it”?

10.20 | What is the Lions Hearing Clinic approach to Tinnitus management?

15.55 | How can parents help mitigate the risk of their children developing tinnitus?

19.30 | What happens during a tinnitus appointment

27.55 | What does the future hold for tinnitus?

29:05 | Key takeaways from this episode.

This podcast provides information of a general nature and does not constitute medical advice.

VIEW TRANSCRIPT OF EPISODE

Resources mentioned

HealthDirect. (2021). Tinnitus. Healthdirect.gov.au

Stegeman I, Eikelboom R, Smit A, Bucks R, Baguley D, Stokroos R, Bennett B, Tegg-Quinn S, Hunter M, Atlas M. Tinnitus and its associations with general health, mental health and hearing loss in a population study. In: Tinnitus-An Interdisciplinary Approach Towards Individualized Treatment: Towards Understanding the Complexity of Tinnitus. Elsevier. pp.431-450; 2021.

Tegg-Quinn S, Eikelboom RH, Brennan-Jones CG, Barabash S, Mulders WHAM, Bennett RJ. Reducing the Impact of Tinnitus on Children and Adolescents’ Lives: A Mixed-Methods Concept Mapping Study. International Journal of Pediatrics. 2021: 5534192; 2021. 10.1155/2021/5534192

Tegg-Quinn S, Eikelboom RH, Brennan-Jones CG, Barabash S, Mulders WHAM, Bennett RJ. Reflections on how tinnitus impacts the lives of children and adolescents. American Journal of Audiology. 30(3):544-556; 2021. 10.1044/2021_AJA-20-00178

Glossary of terms

2:40 | Heterogenic – consisting of parts or things that are very different from each other.

4:30 | Limbic System – the limbic system is the part of the brain involved in our behavioural and emotional responses, especially when it comes to behaviours we need for survival: feeding, reproduction and caring for our young, and fight or flight responses.

6:10 | Temporary Threshold Shift (TTS) – TTS is a change in hearing threshold that recovers to pre-exposure levels (baseline) over time.

11:15 | Habituation – the process of people or animals becoming used to something so that they no longer find it unpleasant or think it is a threat.

17: 10 | Cilia (Stereocilia) – Cochlear hair cells are the sensory cells of the auditory system. These cells possess stereocilia connected to the tectorial membrane. During auditory stimulation, sound waves in the cochlea cause deflection of the hair cell stereocilia, which creates an electrical signal in the hair cell.

About Sasha Benatar

Sasha holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Western Australia and graduated in 2017 with a Master of Audiology studies from the University of Queensland.

She began her career in 2018 in Perth, working as an adult rehabilitation audiologist at Lions Hearing Clinic. In 2019, Sasha started to specialise in tinnitus audiological services.

As an audiologist, she is committed to utilising the latest technology and translating research into patient-centred and evidence-based care. Sasha recognises the importance of hearing health for healthy ageing and is dedicated to improving quality of life through enhanced communication.