The American Tinnitus Association (ATA) assists healthcare providers in serving patients who have, or are learning to cope with, tinnitus. An estimated 40-50 million people in the United States experience tinnitus, 10-12 million of these individuals have sought help for their tinnitus and 2.5 million people report their tinnitus is debilitating (AAA, 2001).
When Geoff Plant asked me to give this keynote presentation, he said to be sure that I included some of my personal experiences as a hard of hearing person. Actually, I wasn’t sure if I could or should do this, since I don’t feel all that comfortable talking about myself.
Hearing loss occurs to most people as they age. Hearing loss can be due to the aging process, exposure to loud noise, certain medications, infections, head or ear trauma, congenital (birth or prenatal) or hereditary factors, diseases, as well as a number of other causes.
Dizziness is a symptom, not a disease. It may be defined as a sensation of unsteadiness, imbalance, or disorientation in relation to an individual’s surroundings. The symptom of dizziness may vary widely from person to person and be caused by many different diseases.
Generally speaking, cochlear implants are a means of surgical amplification for patients with severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. There are approximately 500,000 patients in the United States with severe-to-profound hearing loss.
Generally, most patients will not need any medical treatment for their tinnitus. For patients who are greatly bothered by tinnitus, they may use some masking techniques such as listening to a fan or radio which would mask some of their tinnitus.
