Healthy Colorado: Tinnitus misconceptions and treatment options

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- This week marks Tinnitus Awareness Week. Doctors say it's a condition that affects more than 50 million individuals in the U.S.

Tinnitus is when you experience ringing or other noises in both or one of your ears. The noise you hear when you have tinnitus isn't caused by external sound, and other people can't hear it. It's a poorly understood auditory disorder that affects 15-20% of people and is especially common in older adults.

One Colorado Springs doctor explains it as a phantom perception of sound and the brain misjudges the volume it requires or wants and then our brain produces its own sense of sound. She says some people hear music or loud scraping or banging. In some cases, it can be debilitating. Tinnitus is usually caused by an underlying condition, such as age-related hearing loss, an ear injury or a problem with the circulatory system.

"Sometimes it's causal based on what's happening in your environment and then other times it's just something you have to deal with all the time," says Cassie Iliff, a doctor of audiology at Hearing Consultants. "The goal is that we re-train your brain to view it as a non-threat versus a threat so you just don't pay attention to it."

For many people, tinnitus improves with treatment of the underlying cause or with other treatments that reduce or mask the noise, making it less noticeable. There is no cure, but Dr. Iliff says hearing issues and stress make tinnitus worse. She says there are ways to re-train your brain that her patients have found to improve their condition.

For more information on testing and treatments, you can schedule an appointment with Hearing Consultants here.