Healthy Hearing

If you have tinnitus, good news: You can habituate to it, getting to the point where you no longer even notice it. However, this takes times and often comes with setbacks. Here's how to handle the process with minimal stress.

In my latest column for Healthy Hearing, I take a deep dive into the many challenges tinnitus patients will face on the journey to habituate. I explore the non-linear nature of habituation, why setbacks are an unavoidable part of the process, and how to maintain hope and perspective along the way. You will learn how to accurately track your progress with habituation, overcome the psychological challenges of difficult days, and avoid unnecessary suffering along the way!

Learn more about musical ear syndrome and phantom sounds

When you're driving, hearing loss makes it harder to hear sirens, among other challenges. A larger rear-view mirror and adding a customized "car" setting to your hearing aids can help.

Why are some places harder to hear in? A lot of it has to do with acoustics, distance or space, and backgroud noise. Fixing these things will go a long way.

Exercise is beneficial to the body and mind, but heavy exertion paired with loud music can lead to hearing loss or tinnitus. 

Did you go swimming and now water is stuck in your ears? Learn why it happens and what to do about it.

For people with severe hearing loss in one ear, devices known as CROS or BiCROS hearing aids are a possible solution. They work by picking up sound in the "bad" ear and transmitting it to the "good" ear.

If speech seems muffled and you have trouble hearing women's and kid's voices, birds sing or doorbells ring, you may have high-frequency hearing loss. Learn the causes and treatments for this common type of hearing loss.

At 86, Elizabeth Baker is using her internet fame to shatter stereotypes about aging and hearing loss.