Can you stop your ears ringing by cutting back on chocolate and coffee?

Search the Internet, and you can find lots of advice and recommendations for dealing with tinnitus. The question is: which ones should you choose? And do any of them actually work?  

Dr Pawel Jastreboff can understand the confusion. In his opinion, the Internet is overwhelmed with information – and misinformation. “There’s a lot of myths on the internet, and numerous people with a cure for tinnitus,” he says. So what can you do about it?

Learning to cope

There are several ways to tackle it. One approach that has achieved good results was developed by Dr Jastreboff himself. It’s called Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) and is a process of learning to cope with your tinnitus on a conscious and subconscious level.

He likens it to the sound of raindrops falling on a roof. At first, you notice it. Then, after a while, your attention moves to something else and you forget about it. This is what he calls habituation.

How it starts

Tinnitus generally starts with exposure to loud noise. From then on, it’s hard to understand and just as difficult to cure. “The brain does have a plan for loud noise and music. But, for some unfortunate people, these mechanisms don't work. They become the chronic tinnitus patients,”  Dr Jastreboff explains. “Transient tinnitus is when the ringing comes and goes. To understand it, we have to travel deep into the brain.”

Tune in to Listen up!

Millions of people all over the world suffer from tinnitus. If you’d like to learn more about the condition and how to treat it, tune into the Widex podcast Listen up!